The series began as an open specification, then tyres were standardized from 1986 onwards, followed by engines and chassis in 1996.

The Consortium started a number of projects to deliver open specifications aimed at creating industry standards.

It is a neutral and open specification that is not controlled by a single vendor or group of vendors.

An open specification is not controlled by a single company or individual or by a group with discriminatory membership criteria.

The group has developed and published a set of open specifications.

The practical portion of this document is just 25 pages, but builds heavily on other open specifications and open standards.

Since there are no open specifications to this protocol implementation the only possibility to support it in other clients would have been via reverse engineering.

In contrast, HyperTransport is an open specification, published by a multi-company consortium.

In contrast, the CompactFlash format is described by completely open and free specifications.

VRML experimentation was primarily in education and research where an open specification is most valued.