Yes, they have a lot of impact.  But quit characterizing 
it as a battle.  This isn't us vs them.  This is two 
different architectures being supported and spec'd by 
groups with overlapping members.   Both the business 
arguments and the technical arguments have to be 
understood because they are not separable realistically. 

It must be clarified because the technical community oversells 
just as much as the business community.  In the middle are 
information owners and they impact both groups.  Note 
that GAO owner advising a wait and see approach to XML 
in e-gov.  They are saying "not ready for prime time". 
Understanding their objections points to what is important 
to both the technical and the business community.

AFAICT, one set of interests does not prevail here and 
if it does, the XML community at large is the loser. 
Pick your battles.  SOAP can go right on doing what it does 
and REST is none the poorer for it.  The danger, and this 
is real, is if a group such as the TAG begins to architect 
in such a fashion as to make XML or any other shared technology 
favor one architecture or the other.  At that point, yes, 
there will be battles with real consequences.

len

-----Original Message-----
From: Simon St.Laurent [mailto:simonstl@[...].com]

I'm not entirely sure that developing technical arguments to battle what
seem to be pretty purely business impulses is worthwhile.  How sharp do
the arguments need to be when the Web Services side is flaunting its
bulldozers?  I guess I wish I had a little more faith in the
institutions supporting XML activity.

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