Compatibility you can prove, not negotiate.
All principles · 08 / Compatibility before capture
Open systems win nothing automatically.
In practice
Public conformance
Stable versioning
Published extension rules
Test
If the only way to be compatible is to negotiate privately with the company, Unifyhub is behaving like a closed platform with open language.
Read the full principle
Principle
The shared layer optimizes for compatible participation, and refuses to capture every implementation behind one owner.
Meaning
Open systems win nothing automatically. They become durable when compatibility, complementary services, and lower coordination costs matter more than exclusive control. Openness has to be concrete: documented contracts, compatibility tests, migration guarantees, royalty-free implementation paths where possible, and public rules for how the shared layer evolves.
Compatibility should be provable by the implementer without negotiating a relationship: a product can read the contract, run the tests, understand the version policy, and know what compatible means before asking anyone's permission.
In practice
Conformance suites and compatibility marks with public criteria.
Stable versioning and deprecation policies.
Extensions admitted under published rules, without private negotiation.
Product pressure
This principle favors:
conformance suites over informal partnership claims
compatibility marks with clear criteria
public extension rules
stable versioning and deprecation policies
implementations that compete on quality, support, compliance, operations, and user experience
Test
If the only way to be compatible is to negotiate privately with the company, Unifyhub is behaving like a closed platform with open language.