"So after the show, the SOA advocates shuffled off to meet with Michael and I for a spot of coffee and confrontation.... During a relaxed and wide ranging conversation exploring resource oriented versus message based architectures, I suddenly realised, there was no argument anymore. Getting all those silly vendors to agree on “something, anything” was the battle, but going forward, it’s obvious the Web has won. All we have to do now is to help those pour souls still trapped in Middleware hell to walk into the light and pass the bovril and blankets. If you know someone still slipping around on the SOAP, don’t hate them, just warn them the longer they continue the sillier they look. They deserve your sympathy, not hate. Just give them lots of hugs!"
Thanks, Paul, this made my day.
Hugs, not hate, is the approach I've been taking since mid-2006 within BEA on this topic, with some success, at least in consulting. Though a whole division of BEA figured this out on their own a long while ago.
