Editing Vendor lock-in (section)

=== Technology lock-in ===
As defined by ''[[The Independent]]'', this is a non-monopoly (mere technology), collective (on a society level) kind of lock-in:<ref name="facelock">{{cite web |title=Facebook may "lock in" its internet dominance |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/incoming/facebook-may-lock-in-its-internet-dominance-1880398.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150518095756/http://www.independent.co.uk/incoming/facebook-may-lock-in-its-internet-dominance-1880398.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=May 18, 2015 |website=The Independent |access-date=2015-05-05 |date=2010-01-27}}</ref>

{{Blockquote|text=Technological lock-in is the idea that the more a society adopts a certain technology, the more unlikely users are to switch.}}

Examples:
* The continued prevalence of the [[QWERTY]] keyboard layout is said to be caused by technological lock-in.<ref name="facelock"/>
* [[Carbon lock-in]] is the theory that society has become reliant on [[List of European power companies by carbon intensity|carbon intensive]] technologies, thereby hindering [[renewable energy commercialization]].
* Converting one [[Lossy compression|lossy file format]] into another incurs a [[generation loss]] that reduces quality.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://vorbis.com/faq/#transcode |title=Can I convert my MP3 collection to the Ogg Vorbis format? |date=2003-10-03 |work=Vorbis.com: FAQ |publisher=[[Xiph.Org]] |access-date=2012-08-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120922124854/http://vorbis.com/faq/#transcode |archive-date=2012-09-22 |url-status=dead}}</ref> This is in effect a switching cost. Therefore, if valuable content is encoded in the format, this creates a need for continued compatibility with it.