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RE: Strategies for a lowly XML document

• To: 'Michael Brennan' <Michael_Brennan@A...>, 'Dare Obasanjo' <kpako@y...>, xml-dev@l...
• Subject: RE: Strategies for a lowly XML document
• From: "Bullard, Claude L (Len)" <clbullar@i...>
• Date: Thu, 24 Jan 2002 08:13:44 -0600

I don't think a UDDI ever required a centralized repository 
even if some thought that to be the case.  We tried that 
sort of thing in the CALS era for DoD and it breaks down 
quickly.  No matter how smart we think we are or how 
powerful be believe our imprimatur, unless we enable 
disagreement as well as agreement, our power degrades 
and our smarts become irrelevant.  Keep a light hand 
on the tiller.

Systems of communication have to be able to 
dispense with intermediaries as soon as they quit providing 
interpretive value.  Communicating endpoints have to be 
able to provide their own descriptions.  Standardization 
is not a form of autocratic government.  It is simply a 
way for aggregating aggreements to remain stable by 
authoritatively and contractually obligating themselves. 
The right is to choose the means to choose the means. 
Smart designers and contract specialists scope agreements 
in time and by the affected resources.  UDDI lets you shop around 
and as such, is little more than billboards on the information 
superhighway (to use a now aging term).  Discover via 
UDDI, then negotiate.

None of this is rocket science or even particularly 
abstract.  It does relate directly to the constraints 
placed on centralized authorities to enable interpretations 
to evolve yet not destabilize the process of cooperation.

VWs thrive where aging parts are available.  Hummers 
thrive where you need a bit more protection from the 
local environment. But most of the time, the better 
solution is to buy a Ford.  Parts, service, 
and modern performance conform to the EPA regs, 
insurance is not prohibitive, and it has a good 
trade-in value.  Or buy a Lexus if you can. :-)

Cars evolve.  So do standardized semantics, but 
only insofar as the choice of choices remains open.

len

-----Original Message-----
From: Michael Brennan [mailto:Michael_Brennan@A...]

UDDI is interesting, but I think the decentralized model will continue to
dominate. Even those pushing UDDI recognize that and offer specs and
toolkits for rolling your own discovery service on your own website with no
central repository involved.

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