I just got back from a great trade show in Colorado Springs (the CMI Conference), and my conversations there revolved around the topic of what makes a detention control system "proprietary". If you don't know, the CMI conference is a trade expo for maintenance and engineering staff at state prisons and county jails. These professionals deal directly with the day-to-day operations and maintenance of detention control systems. They see it all: the good, the bad, and the ugly. This trade show is also attended by engineering consultants who specify the detention control systems which end up being installed at these facilities. What I found in my conversations is that what the maintenance and engineering professionals expect and what the design consultants specify often conflict. In this article, I'd like to detail where that conflict occurs and how it can be resolved.