The classroom is an interim step between the closed environment of the home and the wide-open, unprotected real world.

FORBES: South Carolina Teacher Suspended For 'Ender's Game' Also Read Students Agatha Christie [Updated]

Or do you need the closed environment of a company or other group?

FORBES: How Keas Gets Couch Potatoes To Lose Weight

Unlike proprietary solutions that only work within a closed environment, Twonky technology is an open solution that works across brands, operating systems and industry standards to bridge the gap between mobile devices and the living room.

ENGADGET: Twonky Beam update for Android, iOS streams to Roku, Xbox 360

In her new incubator, the baby would sit on a heated mattress that would then fold around it creating a closed, sealed environment when held by the parent.

BBC: Baby in an incubator

But over time, our society has changed from an open setting of collaborative work to a closed, cubicle environment where work is isolated and trapped, confined by our digital domain.

FORBES: Social Business: 5 Trends To Watch For 2013 And Beyond

On its mobile iOS operating system, Apple has created a "closed garden" environment in which everything from apps to accessories has to be approved by Apple, as opposed to Google's more wide-open Android system.

CNN: Doug Gross,

Environment officers had closed Colnbrook Food And Wines on Wednesday because of "an imminent risk to public health", a council spokeswoman said.

BBC: Slough food and wine shop closed by mouse infestation

Some supermarkets have been closed down for flouting the ban, said environment minister Drocella Mugorewera.

BBC: Rwanda gets tough on plastic bags

Google hopes--though it will take a year or more to find out--that the economics of a cheaper, easily re-engineered handset will create a phone-development environment far different from today's proprietary closed models--in which a small number of service providers dictate to relatively few manufacturers what they want on their custom-designed models--and closer to the "fast and cheap" Internet design model.

FORBES: Google's Call