This is a technical term, which simply means to make something less standardised or to decrease the compatibility of a product between implementations.
- Academia
- In the realm of social policy, decommodification describes the degree whereby (mostly European) welfare states displace wages with benefits as a universal right. The measurement of decommodification is the degree to which citizenship can supplant the (labour) market in meeting a household's needs. The most nearly (textbook) decommodified welfare state is that of Sweden.
- Computer Industry
- Decommodification is also the goal of companies in the computer industry who manufacture standards-adherent products. By minorly differentiating their offering (often by adopting draft standards), they seek to create a niche offering and garner supranormal profits while marketing compliance. An example of this would be Microsoft's practice of co-opting most of a standard, adding proprietary functionality, and falling short of interoperability (i.e. Kerberos).