What is open technology?

Open technology is based on openly distributed specifications. During this post, when I say open tech, I’m referring to the open web and technologies like HTML, CSS and Javascript.

This is certainly not a post or debate about native vs web, but is a view of the current state and future of development may that be web or native.

Why work with open technologies?

Open technologies, by their name say that they are open. They are transparent, there to be used, and are adapted by a lot of manufacturers (browsers, platforms).
The W3C is doing a great job on providing us with guidelines, and holding all those specifications together. Browser manufacturers are keeping the up with the specifications, and doing quick build and release cycles so that new features and fixes can be brought to the client devices without any hassle.
We see new platforms popping up one after the other. They may seem very similar, may go back to the same roots, but they are not the same.
Keeping this in mind, your best bet is to go with open. HTML, CSS and Javascript are the most widely adopted technologies nowadays.

Just a little note… I’m not saying that going with hybrid apps or web apps is always the best move. There are cases which justify going fully native on the UI as well. But in most of the cases (and I mean almost in all cases) things can be handled pretty well without the need to develop “native only” apps.

New Platforms

I just saw this morning in a tweet, that the Tesla S has a pretty amazing touchscreen panel in the middle of the dashboard, and it has a capable web browser. That means it runs HTML, CSS and Javascript.
A 17″ touchscreen. That’s pretty nice. And what does it mean? It means you can build apps for a car with open technologies! That doesn’t limit you just to web pages, but to fully interactive experiences. Making a restaurant reservation, checking the weather, adjusting the thermostat in the car? That just got possible.

This is car… but what about a thermostat with a touch screen, what about a fridge or industrial devices? They are here and others will come, and they will support open technologies.

Tools

Now is the best time to get started with building using open. If you’re a developer it might be your best move, if you’re a business it might be your best investment. Think about what it means for your future and the future of open web. It’s not that far when our apps run on every device connected to the internet.
There are plenty of tools that are based on these open standards and you can use building your products.

Let me know what you think about the direction the open web technologies are headed? What is your take on the subject?