imperfect and technically ugly as they are). CORBA is another, technically excellent interface standard through which security mechanisms can be specified, but alas it never really took off. As has been discussed previously, "network effects" dominate technical excellence when it comes to interoperability standards, whether the subject is Web services or word processing document formats. Sad, but true. One only has to look at the near universal use of that dog's breakfast called HL7 2.x to realise that (yes, HL7 3.x promises a far more elegant morning meal...).
Which is why standards such as WSDL are beginning to take off (as
only problem is you need to move up from v2.x meal vouchers to 6-star dining, and be able to pay the bill (and feel it was worth it...;-)
- thomas
