>It's the second time I get this reply and I'm still missing the point of it! I reckon I must be the one to blame.

blame? no, I see this as a friendly talking.

>Ok, don't take my word for good. Go to a SOAP or XML forum, start saying you've been working with SOAP 3 and see what you get back. And no, till now it has not been named SOAP3 Beta.

Well I missed the toolkit word. I dont' understand what are you trying to say. But see now this is released: Microsoft SOAP Toolkit 3.0 at http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/release.asp?ReleaseID=40378

>>So what you will use instead of SOAP? What's wrong with SOAP?
>
>You're twisting the issue. If you want to publish a Web Service, you must use SOAP. If you use SOAP, you should observe standardized guidelines.

Agreed and agreed

>If you say that your Web Service requires, from the consumer side, to use a particular tool from a vendor and to use the underlying protocol as an information carrier, then you're failing to comply to basic guidelines.

Not agree, well you are too academic here. I see SOAP as a way to achieve things, no matter what I put or need to put there.