Three things, amongst a million others, have emerged from discussions
over the years on this Group:

(1) Web Services are not identical to SOA;

(2) Many people with decades of technical experience do not think that
WS are up to the job of providing the means to build robust, adaptable
and scalable SOA structures that will stand a reasonable test of time;

(3) Most of the AppServer/middleware/EAI vendors who have transitioned
to being allegedly primarily SOA vendors seem to be basing their
offerings at least in significant part on conformance with WS standards.

Bearing in mind (1) and (2), what would you suggest that the vendors
offer as an alternative to (3)? If you think the people who believe
(2) are mistaken, how confident are you that WS will provide a
satisfactory foundation for SOA-based development over, say, the next
6 years (allowing for orderly evolution of WS standards)?

Gervas