Uncovering the Hard Truth of Vendor Neutrality in OTEL

Join us as Josh and Adriana call BS on the oversimplified vendor neutrality narrative - because switching observability vendors isn't magic, even with OpenTelemetry. Josh and Adriana walk through the hard truths about OTel vendor neutrality using their favorite analogy: switching from iOS to Android because vCard exists. Sure, your contacts will move, but what about everything else? You'll learn what vendor neutrality actually means in production, why vendor-neutral instrumentation still matters (your code artifacts survive tool changes), the real challenges and pitfalls of switching vendors, and best practices to make the process as pain-free as possible. This episode cuts through the hype with honest talk about what works, what doesn't, and why OpenTelemetry is still valuable even when it's not a magic wand. Timestamps 0:00 Welcome & Introduction 3:32 Getting Into the Talk 4:28 Origin Story: From LinkedIn Post to Full Presentation 5:35 Standards We Love: USB-C, Stop Signs, McDonald's 8:00 The No Name Brand Analogy 12:45 What Vendor Neutrality Actually Means 18:22 The iOS to Android / vCard Comparison 24:16 What You Lose When Switching Vendors 30:41 Why Vendor-Neutral Instrumentation Matters 36:52 Real Challenges & Pitfalls 42:18 Best Practices for Switching 46:17 Shameless Self-Promotion & Resources 49:03 Wrap-up How to find Josh & Adriana: Links from the show:

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Uncovering the Hard Truth of Vendor Neutrality in OTEL is an episode from vBrownBag by Alastair Cooke.

This episode is 00:50:10 long.

This episode was published on Apr 7, 2026.

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