RE: Announce: A brief history of SOAP

["Bullard, Claude L (Len)" <clbullar@ingr.com>]

It's the same for every language and application 
processor out there.  Life is fast and dangerous 
at the ecotones.  Every time we have to bolt 
on another language (andrew says metadata, but 
description to description is not data about 
data, but a point of view or semantic), we 
encounter just enough lack of fidelity to 
spawn an effort to encapsulate/colonize 
the complete semantic space.   Either we 
get centralized control (the One Browser 
World phenomenon) or we accept mediocrity 
(simple is enough).

So in effect, we spec a system or take 
a spec for an implemented system, watch 
the implementations carefully, work out 
what is common, then standardize with 
complete conformance and compliance 
testing.  All the myth of "Internet time" introduces 
is the illusion something better 
can be done faster.  That is the frustration 
of large scale interoperability:  a choice 
of patience or dominance.  The only stable 
systems are the ones that have long fixed 
update schedules or a lack of interest.

For the end user, the web philosphy is useless. 
Patience and understanding what is realizable 
given the tendancy of the systems to diverge 
in the details to an extent that creates mediocrity 
is all they can rely on.

Len 
http://www.mp3.com/LenBullard

Ekam sat.h, Vipraah bahudhaa vadanti.
Daamyata. Datta. Dayadhvam.h


-----Original Message-----
From: Dave Winer [mailto:dave@userland.com]

There's a lot more to say about this, for another time, perhaps another
thread -- the importance of "power scripters" -- communities parked at the
intersection of products. Ultimately if two products interop, neither
developer is going to take responsibility for the connection betw the two
(although they always feel it's the other guys job to do it). Fostering of
such communities is necessary to make it work, where they exist, and the
vendors are responsible, you get magic, otherwise, frustrated users.