Hola! Steve Jones <[email protected]> wrote: > Where? Seriously give me a few examples where people are integrating > 300 systems in a heavily regulated industry using REST.
Lots of places, just pop by the main app spaces, AWS or Google services, but I suspect, as always, you won't be happy with that because you have some very specific scenarios in mind, some specific environments, and usually environments that are already all over the SOAP bandwagon and probably *won't* adapt to anything else due to the massive legacy involved. I feel you're asking about that new fangled invention, the "car" or whatever they call it, by looking in the barn for them. :) > > Maybe the problem is one of context; maybe Steve and the Enterprise > > world (although I suspect a very specific version of it) are missing > > out on something? Maybe it's standing a bit still because there's only > > so far you can go within it? > > Yup that'll be it. Its because we don't "get" REST. Or don't "get" REST because the legacy is too massive? If the horses still ride pretty well, if your horse and cart still perform decent, you're not getting why those cars are even needed. Now, I understand that *you* are far, far smarter than that. But maybe your environment, your compadres and context isn't. Or is too bogged down in something that works to even see the advantage? I know that until I really dug deep in REST I didn't see much advantage from SOAP stuff, but after doing a few runs of massively distributed systems something clicked. And perhaps there is a massive amounts of clicks that needs to happen, lots of little epiphanies that is required for a better adaption. I also suspect this is a question not of technology, but of investment. If companies have swallowed the ESB bait (in any shape or form) that larger vendors have been pushing, they're not going to scrap it for something they don't fully understand can work any better. If their pipeline goes down, who will they blame? The ESB is *perfect* for the blame game, and satisfies a many managers at the same time! :) > Or could the > fact, and it is a fact, that the vast vast majority of integrations > out there are being done via WS-* indicate that REST hasn't in anyway > shape or form become as popular in the last 5 years as Web Services > did in its first 5 years. I remember CORBA being the thing once, too. It petered out. I'm sure WS-* will, too. And it will probably be for very simple reasons, too, like the cost of maintaining several but similar layers of technology. ESB vendors will slowly move to REST, and customers will slowly follow, even if it takes another 10 years or so. Me personally think this is great, because it gives me and my customers a business advantage. :) But again, I deal with mostly smaller companies that aren't mired in the multi-billion enterpricy markets. Yet. > This to me would indicate that the > challenge is more a case of the solution not fitting the real actual > problems. Hmm, I can think of a handful of technologies that are technically better than what ultimately became the success story. Success has often *very* little to do with technical merits or the problem at hand. Often it is pure luck and someone just friggin' did it first that way, and it stuck. Alex -- Project Wrangler, SOA, Information Alchemist, UX, RESTafarian, Topic Maps --- http://shelter.nu/blog/ ---------------------------------------------- ------------------ http://www.google.com/profiles/alexander.johannesen ---
