RE: What are web services good for? (WAS: RE: Two new features o f the Web)

[Michael Brennan <Michael_Brennan@allegis.com>]

> From: Tim Bray [mailto:tbray@textuality.com]

<snip/>

> Having said all that, the hype level is really getting silly.
>  -Tim

True, but I think the hype is more believable then some of the silly visions
promoted by Semantic Web advocates. We hear that web services will permit
business applications to discover each other on the web and interact in
meaningful ways without human intervention. I think we are a long ways from
that. But Semantic Web advocates tell me that someday my toaster will talk
to my wristwatch.

Both visions sound awfully similar, but I think the web services hype is
grounded a bit more firmly in reality, right now.

Quite apart from that, there are plenty of cases of developers getting
useful work done today with web services. Very few of them are paying too
much attention to the hype; they are focusing on what they can do today, and
they can accomplish quite useful things today.