RE: Open Architecture

> Can someone please explain to me what "Open Architecture" is 
> exactly?  It happens to be a keyword in a Call for tender for 
> a CMS project we are bidding for.  I guess it means Cross 
> Platform, but I must be 100% sure.

This is a popular definition:
An architecture whose services are abstracted and whose service
specifications are public. 

The concept really arose more from the hardware world. Open architecture
hardware allowed individual components to be versioned/updated.

In the software world, I think something like ODBC is a good example.

In the Web CMS world I believe any product who's core API is clearly
documented and publicly available could fairly be considered "open".

If the client is being more academic about this, they maybe angling towards
more abstraction of content services functionality, such as you'd get with a
JSR-170 compliant product, but somehow I'd doubt that.

> If I'm right .Net should not be considered an Open 
> Architecture Platform, and if im wrong can anybody 
> provide me with documented proof.

Are they talking about the platform or the CMS? Open platform and open
architecture are typically different concepts.

Anyways, chances are, your potential client has their own ideas of what this
means and has some associated business drivers. Its probably best to sort
out what's behind this in their mind.

Best regards,
Brice

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