This post follows on from my previous post where I said:
Overpriced “enterprise” software that can only be accessed from behind a paywall may as well not exist.
I want to talk about the concept of “Executable Standards”, something that the curators of ArchiMate are keen to promote.
The difference between a “Paper Standard” and an “Executable Standard” is probably obvious – it’s the difference between an open standard existing in theory and it manifesting in practice. I can easily give you an example of a Paper Standard – IMS Learning Design. All bark and no bite. No one implemented it properly and now it’s dead.
But surely the same is not true of the ArchiMate standard? Well, yes and no. Let’s state the following maxim:
If an Open Standard does not manifest in an Open Implementation it is not an Executable Standard.
And furthermore:
Archi is the manifestation of the Open Implementation of ArchiMate.
Therefore:
Archi has made ArchiMate an Executable Standard
Now, this is fortunate. But if Archi had not come about, we might be in a situation where ArchiMate was only implemented by the members of The Cartel, resulting in closed, overly expensive, proprietary software which, in turn, may have eventually killed off the standard or, at least, relegated it to a niche market. In other words, not an Executable Standard, as it is defined above. In fact, The Cartel would have preferred that ArchiMate had remained a niche standard implemented only by them. In my personal experience, The Cartel have demonstrated an alarming ignorance of, and utter contempt for, open source. Readers might consider why they have little or no interest in the ArchiMate Open Exchange Format (the clue is in the words “open” and “exchange”).
But Archi, being free and open source, has provided the Executable Standard that may otherwise have not existed. And this is why an Open Implementation such as Archi requires, let’s call it, “Executable Support”.
