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[XML-DEV Mailing List Archive Home] [By Thread] [By Date] [Recent Entries] [Reply To This Message] Web Services Hype and Reality (was RE: WSIO vs. Semantic Web
 >Nah, both are just beginning to inflate. The semantic web is bigger >than anything except web services, and web services are bigger than >anything except the semantic web. OK, maybe I'm missing something, or oblivious to what I can hope is simply irony :~) Here's an example of what I consider "hype" http://www.zdnet.com/anchordesk/stories/story/0,10738,2847069,00.html "Why Web services will be the Next Big Thing .... TODAY, ALL THOSE [application integration] problems would be solved on a case-by- case basis. The way in which you exchanged and used data might vary for every supplier, every individual airline, and every individual type of cell phone or wireless device. Because of the complexity involved, most of these problems go unsolved, leaving some tremendous efficiencies untapped. As a solution to this problem, Web services establish a method of standardizing communication, making it easier for applications and devices to share information back and forth across the Internet." The author goes on to describe the revelation of writing an application on Windows that uses a Linux machine on the internet somewhere to ... ADD TWO NUMBERS TOGETHER!!" The conclusion is: "For further proof of this, stay tuned. On Wednesday, Bill Gates will be here in San Francisco introducing the newest version of his company's flagship development tool, Visual Studio.Net, which is intended to help developers build these Web services. " I don't want to pick on the author; he's being worked on by the greatest marketing machine the world has ever known that is totally focussed on convincing him that this is indeed the Next Big Thing. And yes, Microsoft is only doing the hype thing better than anyone else, there's a lot of folks one could also hold responsible for the SOAP Bubble. But look at http://www.xml.com/pub/a/2002/01/30/soap.html to see the current reality for how much work it takes to write even a Hello, World web service that works across platforms ... Even if the WS-I can massively simplify this, look at http://www.xml.com/pub/a/2002/02/06/rest.html and tell me that RPC is REALLY the right approach to building industrial strength web services over the internet. There's a lot of good value that people can get from SOAP in the short run, but a lot of work to do before the reality approaches the hype. I just wish that the trade press was saying "caveat emptor" rather than "'"You GO, Bill!". [And yes, I do realize that is like suggesting that Congress should have tightened rather than loosening the laws governing the accounting industry when they noticed all the campaign contributions from those folks.] I know it's trite to use Enron as a rhetorical tool these days, but I think of Kenny Boy every time someone says "pay no attention to the reality behind the curtain" or "don't worry, growth feeds growth." 
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