>>I come to two conclusions:
>>1) Web Services will mostly be private to be effective.
>>2) Public Web Services will be the advertisements of the future.
<snip>
>Lets imgaine....
>What I imagine would happen, is that as these devices blow up in numbers, our ... ISPs will also support these devices.
....ISP sells you, or you can customize your Web service selection. Just like cable TV.
... With a little vision, amazing things start to unfold.

Mike, I think I remember seeing that web case hosted by Bill G last year. I know it was all the rage at the 2000 Devcon (the last day in miami )

But here it is, about a year and 1/2 later, and what has changed. VFP can now actually comsume and host web services. sending data in xml format across the web to (who) for what reason. ? Why bother?

To me, the big big benefit is that of os interportability, something which is not talked about all that often, becuase the .NET, is build on MS products only. but the truth as I see it is, the entire computer industry is going and heading the direction of XML data services, and MS has the foresight to put a name on it. Call it .NET. develop the CLR to catch it and work with it on the desktop, (much like the browser) did with HTML. the the .NET. is something that Oracle and IBM and others are already working with microsoft on to keep standards clear, so one database can communicate with another, without having the ODBC middleware piece, or OLEdb to keep current on.
pump data out in XML and have a catching program written in whatever you like to trap it, parse it, and make use of it.
UPS is one of the first I know of actually publishing a 'web service ' I dont they dont call it a .NET. service, but its a web service, HTTP xml requests and response,. no more html
this sort of thing really helps developers like myself, who can now tap into their service, embedd zip codes, tracking / rating information in an application written into a VFP applicaion, without the headache of updating rate changes or anything.

This is I think a very good example of how it will be used, where large datasources on one end, serve up XML data to client apps (like VFP apps, ) to consume.
It could easly be turned arround as well, where a Sales rep with a laptop using your VFP applicaiton, could upload an order from their laptop, (using XML) to a server of a vendor, running an oracle database. Nothing like a driver needs to be installed, just a xml function call to an establised xml datsource, and the tranaction is processed.

I personally think that VFP is sitting in a great spot, where we can use XML now (and I plan to) as much as possible, a VFP app, to me can become a great data communication device getting data from a sun server, an IBM server, or whatever. They are all going in the the direction of XML datastreams,...
Anyway thats my thoughts.
Bob Lee