ODataX: A Progressive Evolution of the Open Data Protocol

The Open Data Protocol (OData) provides a standardized approach for building and consuming RESTful APIs with rich query capabilities. Despite its power and maturity, OData adoption remains confined primarily to enterprise environments, particularly within Microsoft and SAP ecosystems. This paper analyzes the key barriers preventing wider OData adoption and introduces ODataX, an evolved version of the protocol designed to address these limitations. ODataX maintains backward compatibility with OData v4 while introducing progressive complexity disclosure through simplified query syntax, built-in performance guardrails via query cost estimation, and enhanced caching mechanisms. This work aims to bridge the gap between enterprise-grade query standardization and the simplicity demanded by modern web development practices.