Parting Comments

Philosophically the move toward Web services makes a great deal of sense. As computer users we derive the greatest benefit from the applications that run on our computers the internal software infrastructure and system design are only a means to an end (that end being to run applications).

Web services creates an environment that will enable developers to focus on building useful applications modules as opposed to building systems infrastructure. In days gone by we've seen many vendors invent and reinvent the same infrastructure components over and over again. (Infrastructure in this case refers to operating systems, middleware, communications/networking, systems management, and other elements needed to run a systems platform.) Think about it: how many versions of UNIX do we really need? And how many systems and network management packages do we really need? And how do we benefit from dozens of choices for network protocols? We don't benefit from reinvented infrastructure we benefit from applications!

By being able to pick a Web service from column A and a complimentary Web service from column B (and so on), application developers will some day be able to choose from hundreds, thousands, and eventually millions of application modules in order to create applications on-the-fly. (In fact, application programming using Web services applications will become so easy that even nontechnical nonprogrammers will be able to design and build their own Web services applications, using simple native language commands and graphical user interfaces.) Accordingly, having access to more and more applications will be a huge win for users we will gain access to more information services than ever before and benefit from personal productivity increases that result from this new generation of Web services applications.

Although I've expressed some reservations about the state-of-the-art of Web services today, I can clearly see the benefits that this architecture will bring to computer users in the near future and I'm excited by it! I firmly believe that this time, because Web services are simple and straightforward to build and deploy, and because they have the strategic backing of every major vendor in the industry we will finally see the cross-platform, program-to-program communications environment that we have so long desired come to pass.



Web Services Explained. Solutions and Applications for the Real World
Web Services Explained, Solutions and Applications for the Real World
ISBN: 0130479632
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2002
Pages: 115
Authors: Joe Clabby

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