Despite their petty quibbles and trying desperately to look independent, all the SOA kids seem to be in violent agreement with each other about what's important. So, at their family gathering, they all take part in being service consumers (receive Christmas presents), service providers (give presents) with a service bus (the Christmas tree under which the presents are exchanged).
Their conversation at these times often harks back to their plans for the big compliant homestead, built using the SOA Reference Architecture, which they've been talking about for years. So far they've got a worked design of an SOA implementation, detailed architecture diagrams, component descriptions, detailed requirements, design patterns, opinions about standards, patterns on regulation compliance and standards templates. But no house. Still, it keeps everybody talking (or as they call it - consulting).
Next year's Christmas party might also include the family next door. They've been neighbours for a few years, but have recently changed their name from the increasingly foreign real-time enterprise (RTE) to the currently more acceptable service-oriented infrastructure (SOI). They have a background in manufacturing, but now specialize in making tools, particularly skilled in handling fluctuating demand. I foresee some difficulties ahead. The two families will start to get each other's mail as the postman, along with most of the IT community, gets confused between the two names.
There may also be romance across the fence, with SOI and SOA members courting each other and spending increasing time together. Even so, I thought the comment last month by the co-chair of Open Group's SOA-SOI project was a bit voyeuristic. He said: "SOA and SOI can exist on their own, but when you marry them, you see the big-bang achievement."
It would certainly be a fascinating Christmas party (and by fascinating, I mean dull), but what have I learned about SOA? I'm hopeful it could save me when called to account by the Boss after my SOA implementation. Her criticism "but you said we would have a services architecture" could be deflected by my response "no, no . . . it's service oriented. But don't worry, we'll get there."
And I'm certain we will - or at least somewhere in the vicinity.
Bruce Kirkham is a veteran IT satirist and professional speaker specializing in leading edge technologies and scepticism, who views the IT industry not so much as "dot com" as "dot comedy"
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