I'm thinking of ecosystems rather than products; app stores vs. web, etc. It's easy to vilify rent-seeking behavior that drives closed systems, but without that

I'm thinking of ecosystems rather than products; app stores vs. web, etc. It's easy to vilify rent-seeking behavior that drives closed systems, but without that lure, fewer platforms get built, and progress slows down. It's the kind of thing that Charlie Stross calls a Wicked Problem. Admittedly, this all depends on one's interpretation of "Openness".