I understand your anguish, Steve, or as a certain ex-US President might have said, "I feel your anguish", but I am not sure that Sr. Pezzini meant his comments to be taken too literally. To be fair to him I suspect that he was trying to reassure a supposedly confused and baffled audience (what users aren't confused and baffled by SOA??) by introducing a thread of historical continuity. It was unfortunate that it came across as:
(1) Overly simplistic (2) An Al Gore "I invented the Internet" moment. Gervas --- In [email protected], "Steve Jones" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > "SOA is an update of classic client/server." > > AAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH > > The worst bit is that this person will be called into companies to advise > them. I worked on a project in the early 90s where we used the term > "service" to describe various pieces of our application, but we 100% didn't > equate service with client/server (the term was meaningless in our > application as everything was both client and server). > > This makes the SOA = WS brigade look educated. > > On 25/06/06, Gervas Douglas <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > <<Eschewing the Gartner tendency for crystal ball gazing, Massimo > > Pezzini, vice president and distinguished analyst Gartner Inc., began > > that track session with a brief history of SOA. He noted that when he > > started working for Gartner in Europe in 1996, he was already going to > > IT departments with a paper outlining the principle of SOA. In many > > cases, he found he was evangelizing the converted. > > > > "Customers were doing SOA then although they weren't calling it that," > > he told his audience. They tended to use the terms of the 1990s for > > their projects, calling them client/server. Pezzini said that is the > > secret few SOA gurus want to let out of the bag: SOA is an update of > > classic client/server. > > > > If developers were doing SOA 10 years ago, why is it considered the > > greatest thing since that anonymous baker began slicing bread before > > selling it? > > > > Pezzini said two things have made SOA the hot topic at analyst > > conferences. First, the development of common standards based on XML > > to help facilitate linking services in an application. Second, he > > said, "Now we know how to do it because of the pioneers from 10 years > > ago." > > > > He offered some wisdom gained from a decade of consulting with Gartner > > clients doing SOA. > > > > One of his first points was that for all the talk of the cost benefits > > of SOA and reuse, it is a hard sell at the executive level. Injecting > > a little humor, he did an imitation of a boss having listened to an IT > > manager explaining cost justification: "You're saying that if I give > > you $5 million today, it will save $10 million in three years. But if > > I don't give you $5 million, I can save $5 million now?" > > > > While most analysts, including Pezzini, recommend starting with small > > SOA projects and building incrementally, he said in reality "SOA is > > only cost justified in major applications" where there is the > > potential to save large amounts of money. > > > > However, since reuse is one of the ways to save money with SOA, he > > suggested following the example of Verizon Communications Inc. and > > form a "Service Chasing Team." He said Verizon has saved money by > > having a team of IT professionals dedicated to searching through the > > telco's large SOA infrastructure and identifying Web services that are > > ideal for reuse and then passing the information on to development teams. > > > > While the Service Chasing Team provides a carrot for reuse, he also > > recommended that organizations establish discipline and governance > > processes focused on avoiding the "wild" proliferation of services. > > > > "You will have to have a formal process for building Web services," he > > said. "You can't just have developers building services when they like.">> > > > > You can read this in full at: > > > > < > > http://searchwebservices.techtarget.com/originalContent/0,289142,sid26_gci1195357,00.html?track=NL-110&ad=556019 > > > > > > > I am not quite sure why this should be considered such a stunning > > revelation - when you see the word "service" in a software context the > > word "client" does tend to pop up in one's mental processes. Perhaps > > certain people had not thought of it in client/server terms before > > because it is basically flat and not hierarchical like J2EE or .NET. > > By flat, I mean that a module can be simultaneously a server and a > > client. Delving further back into history, IBM's APPC/LU 6.2 was > > considered a peer-to-peer way for application modules on different > > different platforms(e.g. mainframes, AS/400s [now iSeries], PCs) to > > communicate. Again this could in effect be a flat client/server model > > as any such platform could be either client or server. > > > > Gervas > > > > > > > ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Check out the new improvements in Yahoo! Groups email. http://us.click.yahoo.com/6pRQfA/fOaOAA/yQLSAA/NhFolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/service-orientated-architecture/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
