Does anyone know how the global market perceives SOA? Do countries other than the United States have as much hype about it as we do? Also what other governmental regulatory issues get in the way of SOA around the globe?

I liked the article too. It brings some reality into the SOA hype. Too much hype creates unrealistic expectations. It would be like children playing with guns. I do, however, want to take an opposing view on a couple points.

Koch argues that complexity is the prime prerequisite for SOA. Doesn't this discount the possibility that even when MS is used, a business may need to split a process into discrete services like in the ProFlowers.com example? Modular coding practices have been around for years. Surfacing business application interfaces as services may still be required to adapt to the market, even for the smallest company. Think about examples you've sited like credit checks or other simple service calls external to large companies but provided by those small companies.

If Owens Corning is using 75% of their applications on SAP, 25% still run somewhere else either within our outside the enterprise. Interacting with those applications internally and surfacing their collective functions as a service to buyers or suppliers might be required. SAP's investment in middleware services oriented entries marks their recognition that customers must create business agility with their infrastructure. Collaboration with suppliers and buyers requires application integration, people integration, data integration, process integration, and much more. The approach or organization to this integration is what SOA suggests should be driven by business needs first not just IT complexity.

I'm sure none of the SAP examples exclusively use SAP for their integration needs. David, even you explain SOA as good architecture. Why would we preclude SOA for these companies? This makes the assumption that packaged applications are an alternative to SOA. I don’t see it that way. Customers should always buy packaged applications when possible. But as Koch pointed out, even those who subscribe heavily to packaged applications like SAP can’t deliver everything their business needs from those applications. Where does the business agility come from? If you don’t create an architecture that provides flexibility to adapt to the needs of your market, you will be passed up by your competition.

I also don't see the point about comparing centralized or decentralized companies for SOA applicability. If comapanies follow the 12 step approach that you prescribe, wouldn't that negate his point? Doesn't SOA actually facility callaboration, whether that's within a decentralized company or among several decentralized companies? One example of this is Penske Truck Leasing. Penske collaborates with GenPact, a subsidiary of GE. GenPact handles over 30 of Penske’s heavy paper-driven processes through tight collaborations utilizing an SOA "model". Another example is UPS. UPS effectively insources their buyers’ logistics services. UPS buyers like Toshiba and Nike utilize UPS to not only deliver packages but also customer support and product ordering processes. That can’t be done without systems on both sides that can adapt to change.