My both parents have PhD and both quite old, so I have a double-impact case. When I tell them about SOA, I use exact concept of service economy kindly described by Sanjiva. I also have found that this concept perfectly works for all other people including IT Managers and Developers. Even when the concept is not used directly in the SW development of the services, it is very helpful for self-control am I developing a service for other people/consumers or for myself? As of absolutely common language, I think it is unrealistic (remember Esperanto) because of cultural differences: similar things are named differently in different countries and organizations. What I believe is needed is a common alphabet like XML. I am agnostic to Web Services and do not consider them as a panacea for the service-orientation but rather as a quite convenient enabler, tomorrow we will have another one Certainly, service must be available (to be found) and described. WSDL is a second/third attempt to come up with A universal description but, in service economy , the description may not be interface-based only; we need another Contract Description standard for this to describe it all together - interfaces, related policies (policy references), expected behaviour, non-functional characteristics, versioning, service life events and change control procedures, and so on. I still think that SOA distinguisher is the understood orientation of the enterprise architecture to the enterprise business model. Even when we deal with inter-enterprise cases like supply chains and collaboration between financial institutions in the finance processing (e.g., STP T+1), the first which comes is the business model, then, its implementation. Finally, here is my 1 penny: SOA is an enterprise level application architecture which can implement and support business services and business processes with the highest effectiveness and can quickly adapt to the changes in them; where the business services and processes are defined by the inter- or intra-enterprise business model. - Michael Poulin
Gervas Douglas <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: Thanks, Steve. When you next see them, I think you should try them out on your mother and Chris Gent respectively. As regards, drink in Southern France, yes, at retail level wine in particular is incredible value for money compared to the UK. However even an old Sweaty like me has to sober up and cut down occasionally. As Mark will tell you, moderation is the watchword! More contributions from the rest of you would be most welcome. I think this is a useful exercise for two reasons: (a) You might find it useful to rehearse these answers for practical reasons in terms of explaining what you do to non-techies. (b) Looking at SOA from these fresh perspectives can help us see what is relevant and useful. Must dash off and pour myself a glass of pineau... Gervas --- In [email protected], "Steve Jones" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > For my mum > > "Its about thinking about things in terms of groups, sensible logical groups > of 'stuff' that do similar things and that you think of in a similar way. > You then build and manage things around these groups, its like having > business departments but with IT systems." > > For a sixty year old with no clue about computers > > "Like planning a cricket match, you've got all the different positions and > you've got to keep moving them around to get the best result, so some of > your services are your Andrew Flintoffs that can do loads of things, others > are like your Don Bradman and brilliant at one thing, some are good fielders > and some are good in the slips. Players are services and the positions is > you configuring them to do what you want". > > Booze Free in Southern France? Aren't there laws against that? > > On 26/11/06, Gervas Douglas <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > Thank you, Ashley. Your cultural level is far too rarefied for a Brit > > in IT :). This adaptation of yours is more of what a suit would > > describe as a strapline. > > > > Here's a thought on a booze-free (yes, life can be sad at times, even > > in Southern France) Sunday afternoon: as well as a crisp technical > > definition, can anyone come up with brief descriptions of SOA that > > make sense respectively to: > > > > (1) their mother, assuming for the exercise that she is not a > > Professor of Computer Science; > > > > (2) a clear-thinking business person of about sixty years old who does > > not love to use a PC directly, i.e. tap away at the keyboeard. > > > > Gervas > > > > --- In [email protected]<service-orientated-architecture%40yahoogroups.com>, > > "Ashley at > > Metamaxim" <ashley.mcneile@> wrote: > > > > > > What about: "That architecture, no better architecture than which > > can be imagined"? > > > > > > (Adapted from Anselm of Canterbury). > > > > > > Rgds > > > Ashley > > > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > > > From: Gervas Douglas > > > To: [email protected]<service-orientated-architecture%40yahoogroups.com> > > > Sent: Saturday, November 25, 2006 2:30 PM > > > Subject: [service-orientated-architecture] Another Crack at > > Defining SOA > > > > > > > > > No one anywhere in the known universe has yet come up with a > > > definition of SOA which commands widespread acceptance. Perhaps it is > > > time we had another crack at it. > > > > > > Over to you ladies and gents... > > > > > > Gervas > > > > > > > > > > --------------------------------- Want to start your own business? Learn how on Yahoo! Small Business.
