Hector
In 1997 we wrote a foxisapi server that received requests from a Browser Java application and returned packed datasets for consumption by the Java app.
We did not get excited about the data transfer part at all, except that we were proud to maintain tiny data transfers by cacheing lookups etc at the Java client, a pride that seems obsolete in these days of bloated server round trips.
This is why I agree that Web services are the wrong focus. Of course Web Services are not going to usher in a whole new exciting class of app. Web Services are the support service, not the lead actor. *Businesses* will identify exciting new classes of app for which they believe they can turn a $, and will use Web Services IF that seems the profitable thing.
FWIW I think web services are an excellent "next step" in data transfer mechanisms and look forward to their increased use behind the scenes. That's important enough without getting all hyped up.
Regards
JR
"... They ne'er cared for us
yet: suffer us to famish, and their store-houses
crammed with grain; make edicts for usury, to
support usurers; repeal daily any wholesome act
established against the rich, and provide more
piercing statutes daily, to chain up and restrain
the poor. If the wars eat us not up, they will; and
there's all the love they bear us."
-- Shakespeare: Coriolanus, Act 1, scene 1
