Enough of Specs, Courtesy: Don Box - I don't agree.
"Specs are like bodily orifices: Everybody has them and they all have certain unique characteristics. But just writing a spec means nothing. If you write a spec that no one implements, did it ever really specify anything?"
These are the words of Don Box @ XML Web Services One conference 2003. But is he or Microsoft following this advice. Roll back to Aug 2002 when Don Box said something very similar at the XML Web Services One conference (same conf). Notable are these lines from his presentation.
Box said XML Web services are a means to an end. "We have to get the plumbing sorted out," he said. "We have a couple more years of plumbing work, but after that we move on to applications," he said. Box said the "protocol work is starting to wind down, the infrastructure is catching up with protocols and it's time to start thinking about applications."
So why these statements suddenly. Since Aug 2002, Microsoft has released atleast six WS-* Specifications and I am sure these are not over yet. Does MS feel that they have covered all the areas of web services. Rest assured, coming months we will see more and more of these from MS and others.
Don also has few tips for us guys.
His four tips for developers: Read fewer specifications, write more applications, write less code by using tools that generate code automatically, and remember that humans matter, so if you must write a specification, make it legible.
I agree with all except for the first one. I know it's kind of getting difficult to catch up with all the specifications, but reading fewer specs will restrain your choices. On the other hand, if you don't write applications based on these specs, the specs don't "specify anything". I have mixed feelings reading this article.