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Chapter Summary
Interoperability across vendor platforms is something users take for granted. It's been a long, hard struggle to get to this point! You could argue that it's still not over. The information technology industry has well-defined public standards for virtually everything. These standards, and their ready availability (openness), are what enable products from different companies to interoperate with each other.These standards, in turn, are built upon a well-understood and necessary sequence of functions. Those functions are kept organized through the use of layered reference models. Different reference models might draw the boundaries between the layers a little differently, but the sequence of steps within those layers remains constant.Traps await the unwary; some companies do try to recapture some of the lost bounty of proprietary hardware by embellishing open standards. Yet, the era of open computing has begun and shows no signs of ending.Having seen how open communications works, as well as where TCP/IP fits in the grander scheme of things, focus a little more on this book's subject. TCP/IP, like driving a car, can be thought of as a complicated function that consists of a tremendous array of simple, individual tasks. These tasks are embodied in individual, single-purpose software programs known as protocols. Together, protocols enable open communications between dissimilar computers across networks that span both large and small distances. The next chapter takes a much closer look at TCP/IPthe networking protocol that changed the world!
