Where We Go from Here

The cell phone is a listening device. It listens for a call to its network address from the cell network. When it receives one, it follows some logic to handle the call. Sound familiar? This works just like the RPC architecture and will be the format for a new host of devices that listen for Web Service calls over the G3 wireless network.

The first lines of the W3C XML group’s charter state the following:

• “Today, the principal use of the World Wide Web is for interactive access to documents and applications. In almost all cases, such access is by human users, typically working through web browsers, audio players, or other interactive front-end systems. The Web can grow significantly in power and scope if it is extended to support communication between applications, from one program to another.”

New business communication will be via XML and Web Services, rather than EDI and VANs. Micropayment may actually become a reality. Scores of promises that the Internet has made since its inception can be fulfilled with Web Services and XML. It won’t stop there, though. The power of listening devices will bring Web Services development into user-to-user markets from business-to-business ones.

It sounds far-fetched, but it is hoped that you can see how the power of Web Services on .NET could make this possible. SOAP isn’t just about replacing the RPC architecture already out there. It is a fundamentally different way to think about the network as the platform.