The Wizard of SOA

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. The Wizard of SOA
Some refreshingly blunt coverage of SOA (Service-Oriented Architecture) - the much touted Next Big Thing (after 2L, that is). "This is what I don't get: a) we have to pay for it (licensing more products) and b) we have to develop it (and development of SOA applications seems overly complex to me)." Every time I talk to people about the Semantic Web (always in caps) and SOA, they are always talking enterprise. But think about it - when was the last time something developed for the enterprise had any great influence? The things that make real change - and therefore are really the Next Big Thing - are always (always) small, simple and personal. More...