In the XaaS world, if you want to increase Patration - the freedom and portability to move from one service provider to another without hinderance or boundaries - I've long argued that open standards are necessary but not sufficient.
You also need a network of providers complying to these open standards. This is most likely to happen if you have open sourced systems which implement such standards.
In the long run this should be norm for the XaaS world since "the fastest way to achieve a standard is not through committee, conversation or whitepapers but through the release and adoption of not only a standard but also an operational means of achieving a standard".
Most of my arguments come from my research in the area of commoditisation of software and the the impact of open source in this area.
I'm glad to read this article by Ross Gardler that also argues that open standards are not enough to prevent lock-in.
