The table format went open. The lock-in just moved upstairs.

The open-table-format wars cooled this year, and that is good: storing the same bytes in three incompatible ways was never a strategy. But "open" at the storage layer is not "open" at the decision layer. As the formats converged, the contest quietly moved up a floor — to the catalog that governs access, lineage, and policy, which is precisely where ownership and control actually live. Interoperability at the bottom is worth having. Just notice that the part of the stack that decides who can do what has become the new place to be locked in, and price it accordingly.

When everyone agrees on the file format, read the catalog's terms of service.