WHOSE CAMP ARE YOU IN?

摘要

Who ever conceived of the idea of web services should be getting some serious cash from the likes of IBM, Microsoft, BEA, Oracle, Sun and SAP. In creating a de-mand for software components which automate business processes across diverse computing systems and over networks, the invention of web services may has helped to revitalise the software market. By definition, web services must support XML and the Simple Object Access Protocol and standards, developed by the World Wide Web Consortium and standards body Oasis, to govern aspects such as security and interoperability. But this is where the consensus starts to break down. The suppliers' approaches tend to be based on specific products, which fall into two camps. Microsoft has the Windows-based .net platform and the other suppliers use Sun's Java 2 Enterprise Edition as their framework. Mike Gilpin, vice-president and research director at market analyst firm Forrester Research, says, "Companies that use J2EE have about as many web services in production and in development as those using .net."