Iceberg Needs an Open Catalog, Not a Walled Garden

This post argues for the importance of an open catalog for Apache Iceberg to prevent vendor lock-in, drawing parallels to past ERP system consolidation. It highlights that the catalog, not just the storage format or compute engine, becomes the critical control layer. The post emphasizes that for real-time AI and operational applications, an open catalog is essential for fresh data, low-latency access, and transactional updates, ensuring customers retain freedom and avoid proprietary control layers.