Tech Watch | InfoWorld Staff » Web services standards - Is enough enough already?

October 13, 2004 | Comments: (0)

Web services standards - Is enough enough already?

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The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) this week is holding a workshop on "Web services Constraints and Capabilities." The organization is striving toward a common vocabulary on the constraints of what a Web service can do and may develop a standard to address the issue.

Once again, I have to ask, does the world need anymore Web services standards? Aren't there too many already?

Well, officials at the two leading Web services standards organziations, the aforementiond W3C and OASIS, have different perspectives on this.

"I understand from my discussions with people that the sheer nature and overlapping of some [proposed standards] can lead to confusion. We would like to reduce that," said Ian Jacobs, W3C spokesman.

"There's so much of an industry rush about Web services, it doesn't surprise me that perhaps there's an overabundance of specifications right now," Jacobs said.

"We are focusing on the proper design of a strong base for Web services and naturally, we want as few as possible specifications as the core layer, and built on top of that it's clear there's going to be a greater proliferation [of Web services specifications] and the OASIS model promotes that," Jacobs said. He added that the OASIS and W3C models are both useful.

OASIS, while the forum for lots of Web services standards ideas, does promote convergence and is seeking to eliminate redundancy, according to James Bryce Clark, manager of technical standards development at OASIS.

Upon receiving submissions these days,"the question is asked, 'Why do you need another [proposal]? Isn't this being done somewhere else?' " Clark said.

"Standards are like potato chips; no one eats just one," said Clark. Even a simple email evokes five or six standards, he said.

Too many potato chips, though, gives me indigestion. At some point, Web services standards bodies and the vendors who participate in them ought to settle on an easy-to-digest set of standards if Web services is to keep its promise of easing integration.

Posted by Paul Krill on October 13, 2004 03:16 PM

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