Sam Ruby published his essay on REST & SOAP. I'm glad to see someone as smart and levelheaded as Sam getting involved by publishing an essay and on the topic. I've been delving into REST theory and trying to understand how its contrasts with SOAP/WSDL/UDDI. I think REST and its often-fanatical supporters have some very good, valid points. REST illustrates that Web services are not just the holy trinity of SOAP/WSDL/UDDI -- something I've written about in the past. RESTful Web services are more lightweight and simple implementation then SOAP and company. They carry too much overhead for simple operations or operations over public mobile networks by low powered devices. REST also better utilizes the existing infrastructure of the Web then the current the incarnation of the SOAP Web services stable which in some ways does reinvent it. However I don't believe REST is a total solution or one that couldn't use more work, as its advocates seem to indicate. My research and interest continues.
Slate published "Tangling the Web: How Web services are changing the Internet" a piece worth reading if your trying to understand Web Services or your an "expert" that struggles to explain it in simple terms to those who are not.
Infoworld recently polled subscribers of their Technology & Business Daily newsletter (Sorry, no link is apparently available) and asked "What phrase best describes the WS-I?" Here are the responses:
12% A) A much-needed industry consortium to promote interoperability. 2% B) A harmless adjunct to the standards process. 30% C) A thinly veiled industry consortium trying to control the standards process. 56% D) An attempt by Microsoft and IBM to marginalize Sun. 0% E) None of the above.
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