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March 07, 2003
Dawn of the Application Network
Web services are the foundation for all this work in application integration, but we're only beginning to see the benefits of Web services. Web services differ from past integration technologies because of the standard way that program APIs are exposed. Exposed APIs allow for interoperability, but just as important is the ability to bolt new functionality onto existing applications. Web services create an abstraction layer where applications are seen as black-box nodes on a network. Data and transaction streams are seen as application layer messages on the network. These messages can be conditioned, filtered, and modified in real time as they flow between these nodes.
[Full story at InfoWorld...]
I think there's a larger story here about Application Layer Internetworking and its eventual effects on how Web Services are used and what services are built. The story is going to take more than a short analysis piece to tell however.
As I related in this article, there's a distinction between "conversion," doing what we do today differently, and "exploitation," doing innovative things that we couldn't do without Web Services. Most early uses of Web Services are going to be in the conversion category, but the really interesting stuff, in my opinion, is in the exploitation category. I don't think we've begun to envision the changes that standard interfaces and routable messages will bring.
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SCO vs. IBM
As reported in this story at Infoworld and this story in the Provo Daily Herald (for some local color), SCO has filed suit against IBM for allegedly distributing source code that belongs to SCO in violation of a license agreement between the two companies.
This isn't too surprising. One of the major investors in SCO (ne'e Caldera) is the Canopy Group. The Canopy Group believes in intellectual property and they believe in protecting it. They also are not afraid to litigate. This has been a successful strategy for SCO in the past and companies remember success and try to repeat it.
When I wrote about this last month it prompted some responses some people in the open source crowd, which led me to write a piece on Ethics and Fiduciary Duties. The question to be asked is "are the actions of SCO management legal, ethical, and in the interest of their shareholders?" If so, then that is the course of action they should pursue.
One could, of course, argue that another course of action, for example an open source strategy, would be better for their shareholders. In that case, the plan should be presented to the board and, if approved, carried out.
My bottom-line analysis on this is that SCO has a fiduciary duty to take this action regardless of whatever philosophical beliefs management has on open source unless their investors specifically agree to an alternate strategy.