Interoperability: How standardisation helps you be different

Speaker: Badri Sunderarajan

Track: English Language Talks

Type: Talk

Room: Lecture Hall 11

Time: Mar 14 (Sat): 14:30

Duration: 0:20

Did you think you needed a smartphone to read email, send messages, check your calendar, and stream podcasts? My Nokia flip phone can do all those things too—because they are based on standards.

In this beginner-friendly talk, I will introduce the concept of open, interoperable standards in software and hardware. As an example, I will talk about the XMPP standard that lets people run their own WhatsApp alternative on any device be it an old cellphone, the latest laptop, a supercomputer, or a Raspberry Pi.

Good standards allow us to build a strong, resilient ecosystem of products that are not dependent on one company’s success or failure. If something standards-compliant is not working out—be it a privacy-invasive app, a faulty component, or a burnt-out charger—we can easily swap it for something better with minimal disruption. Because hyped-up companies and products come and go, but widely adopted standards tend to stay!