Infoworld analyst Jon Udell is optimistic about web services-led interoperability, but less so about the universal client
“Although there are lots of ways to build server applications, most developers identify themselves with Java, LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, Perl/Python/PHP), or Windows. Thanks to XML Web services, these Balkan states are now united to a remarkable degree. There are still a few wrinkles, but the interoperability of SOAP stacks is mostly a done deal. When I look at the emerging cloud of services, I see both healthy diversity and reassuring uniformity.
I can’t say the same for the client landscape, though. There have never been so many horses in the race….”