Week 3: Muddy- Protocol

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Communication protocol was a difficult subject to understand this week. I found the concept hard to grasp and what threw me off the most were the proprietary protocol and the standardized protocol. My question is, "Why do we need both proprietary and standardized protocol?" Wouldn't it be easier to have just one type of protocol that everyone can use than having both proprietary and standardized? In my opinion, there is no need for proprietary protocol because it is very restricted.

From the class video, I learned that communication protocol is a set of rules that govern the communication process. The process starts when information/data are placed into packets. By using the Ethernet Protocol, these packets will each be labeled with header, payload and trailer. The header contained an IP address as to where the packets are going. By using the Internet Protocol (IP), the packets will finally arrive at the exact location as the IP address has indicated.

Proprietary protocol is when manufacturers create their own protocol and patent the protocol to restrict anyone else from using it. Business that uses proprietary protocol is limited to that specific vendor only. Standardized protocol is basically open source protocol that everyone is allowed to use and distribute it. Standardized protocol enables products from different vendors to use the same set of rules and it allows them to operate with each others.

After doing my research online (most of my information came from Wikipedia), I was able to answer my question as to why some users continue using proprietary protocol and some do not. Proprietary protocol software such as Skype was able to gain popularity due to it's free application and its user's friendly technology. Proprietary protocol such as proprietary instant messaging protocol is not used by many due to network incompatibility. People from other networks were unable to communicate with their friends due to this reason. In conclusion, many people continue to use proprietary protocol because it comes with enormous amount of benefits to their users.

I found a very interesting video from YouTube that goes into details of how network protocol works. Enjoy!!!