Comment Re:The times are changing (Score 1) 266
Lock-in [wikipedia.org] is when the user is dependent on one vendor and can not change to another one, at least not easily.
Have you ever seen what happens when you take an average, non tech-savvy expert microsoft office user and then tell them that they have to use open office instead? they can't find anything! File formats can be an effective method of lock-in, but having a large base of users who are completely accustomed to using your product as the standard can be as well.
If OpenOffice were a perfect substitute for Office, and switching costs were zero, that would be it; the story would be over. Microsoft would only be able to give office away as everyone would be completely indifferent and simply switch to the cheaper product (in this case, OO, which is free). [proof by contradiction] Either they are not perfect substitutes or switching costs are non-trivial, or a mixture of both.