Re: [xml-dev] Web Service Business Questions

Matthew Gertner wrote:

>Because this type of content consolidation is the poster child of hosted
>apps. While it's true that the same technology could be applied locally,
>this doesn't answer the key questions that initiated this thread: how do I
>bill for these applications and how do I guarantee reliability,
>trustworthiness, etc.
>
I am beginning to suspect that we will see two broad types of consumer 
web services - free, REST-y, provider hosted ones; and billable, SOAP-y 
ones which may well use some kind of billing and hosting franchise, and 
are more likely to integrate to non-browser apps on the client. In other 
words a distinction between the amount of financial and configuration 
investment required from the client.

>Use of a hosted app gives you all the functionality you need and provides
>elegant answers to these questions.
>
Indeed, but these questions apply more forcibly to billable web services 
than free ones.

Francis.