From: Paul Prescod [mailto:]
Don Park wrote:
>> Until we have convincing answers to these questions, arguments over SOAP
>> and REST are no more interesting than sports bar arguments.
>I disagree because I don't see the Google use case as a killer app for
>web services.
If Google chose to charge for these, the questions would be relevant.
Don is essentially right.
>The two killer apps for web services are:
> * enterprise application integration
Change that to a distributed enterprise and I agree. Within a LAN,
web services can be just more stuff. I'm not a believer in the
intraprise web service as the killer app.
> * cross-organization integration (supply chain integration, customer
>data sharing, etc.)
Yes. But even across enterprise organizations, until they are distributed,
web services per se may not add much. They do force one to think about the
problems of how an enterprise communicates and what, but that is the core
problem of enterprise engineering anyway.
>Furthermore:
>> 2. What is the cost of operation?
The provider must establish that. Part of the T&Cs (Terms and Conditions).
>> 3. How will accountability and liability be distributed?
The service provider must offer a standard contract to all comers. This
is a legal issue of fair trade. A CONOPs is established to allocate
responsibilities. Liquidated damages are contracted for in the original
agreements (again, T&Cs). During the negotiation phase, the requestor
can take exceptions to any term or condition considered unacceptable.
>There must be answers to these questions because people have been doing
>"web services" since there were computer networks...
There are. No one who does it and understands it takes the "frictionless"
aspects seriously. On the other hand, remember that negotiation is a kind
of service, and orchestration can be a means to establish that the right
processes are followed prior to enabling a qualified account on a web service.
You may or may not want to do that. Humans have to read and respond because
the devil is truly in the details in quoting services. A simple term like
"all", "any", "other" in a request is cause to decline it (use of unbounded
terms).
One degree of separation is what you get after you resolve all the other
degrees of separation to enable "closeness". Duty before wealth or pleasure.
>In theory web services should bring the price down so
>that this (proven!) business model will be more widely applicable.
I'm not sure about that. It should make them faster where communications
was not well-organized in the past. Otherwise, it is hard to take cost
out of proceses in which either:
1. All T&Cs cannot be established prior to implementation and cutover
2. Negotiation of profit is the Prelude to the piece.
len
