Web 2.0 and Service Oriented Architectures (SOA)
John Hagel - Edge Perspectives, has a great post about, "...the relationship between Web 2.0 and Service Oriented Architectures (SOA)?"
"SOA Versus Web 2.0?"
Mr. Hagel, "...a cultural chasm separates these two technology communities, despite the fact that they both rely heavily on the same foundational standard - XML. The evangelists for SOA tend to dismiss Web 2.0 technologies as light-weight “toys” not suitable for the “real” work of enterprises. The champions of Web 2.0 technologies, on the other hand, make fun of the “bloated” standards and architectural drawings generated by enterprise architects, skeptically asking whether SOAs will ever do real work.
Connection of resources
When you talk to SOA proponents today, you will hear a lot about connecting applications and databases, but not a lot about connecting people together and helping to support their interactions with each other. In contrast, Web 2.0 advocates put a lot more emphasis on the opportunity to connect people together and to support their collaborative efforts. Web 2.0 certainly also addresses issues of connecting applications and data, but Web 2.0 is distinctive in the social dimension that it explicitly addresses.
The next wave of innovation by enterprises will depend on the ability to connect people together more effectively, [social networking software] especially at the edge of enterprises, and provide them with tools to support collaborative creation."
Mr. Hagel goes on to say that business line execs are increasing "...frustrated with the escalating hype around SOAs, the growing spending over SOA design initiatives and the relatively limited business impact achieved by SOA deployments. In contrast, Web 2.0 initiatives are leading to a proliferation of mashups (one form of composition), as described by Dion Hinchcliffe in "The Web 2.0 Mashup Ecosystem Ramps Up" and "Some Predictions for the Coming 'Mashosphere' " "
What's missing here is that most of the web 2.0 technology is not coming from traditional software businesses with spiffy brochures, fancy websites, polished sales reps, and a gigantic marketing budget but from small open source communities or individuals (hackers.)
"Running a business on Web-based software", Posted by Dion Hinchcliffe - ZDNET
"Social vs. Technical Aspects of Enterprise Web 2.0
The tenets of Web 2.0 can be exhibited in a variety of ways that range across a spectrum with social aspects at one end to primarily technical ones at the other (see diagram left). Web 2.0 software for the enterprise can effectively demonstrate aspects across part of this range, most of it, or just a snippet of it. But the generally idea is that Web 2.0 software is online, open, made of pieces, encourages constructive social interaction, and is driven sightly more by its users and data than specific features. Wikis are a great example of this latter concept; their biggest two features are the edit and save
buttons, with the data and people gathering there being far more important."