On 06/07/06, Stuart Charlton <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > > > > > > > Tangible business benefit comes in two basic forms: > > > > (1) Internal - cost reduction etc > > > > (2) External - Benefit to customers - increased functionality, more > > rapid response to requirements > > > > Category (2) is something customers will pay for, (1) is not and tends > > to be about the law of diminishing returns. > > > I tend to agree that (1) is not, unless the savings are huge due to process > optimization... Not a REST example, but more generally SOA + BPM: we > executed a $200m workflow automation & exception management program at a > major bank, of which over 25% was severance costs alone (they shed 850 out of > 2500 operational employees). It had to go to get board-level approval to > get the capital, but they spent it (saving them $40m/year on people alone, > let alone process execution times). > > As for economic laws, I would suggest that the argument for REST is about > increasing returns due to network effects.
But the same could be said of SOAP/WSDL, indeed most of the financially successful ones out there in industry at the moment appear to be using the SOAP/WSDL approach. [snip] > > > > So in the context of gaining tangible business benefit, REST vs SOAP is > > nowhere and therefore "pointless". You might be able to make some claim > > in respect of category (1) but it's going to be difficult to prove and > > I've seen very little of how REST vs SOAP means anything in respect of > > category (2). > > > Contrast the marginal cost of integrating a dynamic website onto the web vs. > the marginal cost of integrating a system with EAI or RPC... Apples and oranges though, one is a human centric system where the interpretation is done people people, and the other is system to system where the interpretation has to be defined and agreed. Integrating businesses and systems is not the same as slapping up a web page. SOAP/WSDL != RPC in every case BTW, that is just one of the available styles. ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Great things are happening at Yahoo! Groups. See the new email design. http://us.click.yahoo.com/TISQkA/hOaOAA/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/
