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That's basically saying that you can't expect anyone to profitably provide support for a device that anchors an "open" system. There will always be bad actors

That's basically saying that you can't expect anyone to profitably provide support for a device that anchors an "open" system. There will always be bad actors who screw up the network for everyone else (especially when you're talking about a wireless network), and "civilian" (meaning non-tech-savvy) customers will usually call the network hub manufacturer for support, because that is where they will see the problem, regardless of where the problem actually originates. Put another way, if your analysis is correct, it presents a fundamental weakness in any standardized architecture that relies on a central managing device, which could prevent the development of a robust ecosystem with many vendors.

cbsmith 11y ago
No, that's not what I'm saying. There will always be bad actors. Often you design a system to handle them in ways that minimize support costs. Consider the case of 802.11 or USB or ZigBee. In general, most of the value of providing a device that works with any of those is a function of how well it works with any other device. The support costs are also a function of how well the device interoperates with other devices. That pretty much kills the value of making a device that only works with a manufacturers own devices, and provides strong incentives to work with as many as possible as well as possible.