[DotGNU]IBM, Microsoft, BEA Snub W3C

[Seth Johnson]

(Forwarded from Kernel Panic Users Group)

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Subject: FWD: IBM, Microsoft, BEA Snub W3C
Date: Fri, 18 Apr 2003 16:42:03 -0400
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BEA Systems, IBM and Microsoft on Wednesday submitted a major standard
proposal for Web services to OASIS, snubbing similar work underway at the
Worldwide Web Consortium (W3C).

Dispute is over BPEL (Business process execution language)



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This article is from CRN (http://www.crn.com/).
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<beginstory>
IBM, Microsoft, BEA Snub W3C

By Antone Gonsalves, <i>TechWeb</i><BR>
10:04 AM EST Thurs., Apr. 17, 2003

BEA Systems, IBM and Microsoft on Wednesday submitted a major standard
proposal for Web services to OASIS, snubbing similar work underway at the
Worldwide Web Consortium (W3C).
The trio, all major players in the development of Web services standards,
submitted a specification for Business Process Execution Language, or
BPEL, which was co-authored by SAP and Siebel Systems. Twenty other
businesses have signed on as co-submitters, and OASIS (Organization for
the Advancement of Structured Information Standards) has started the
process of forming a technical committee to develop the spec, Microsoft
and IBM executives said.
BPEL is a specification for orchestrating multiple Web services in
automating a complex business process between companies.
To foster wide-scale adoption of Web services among ISVs and enterprises,
proponents need to deliver standards for orchestration, security and
management, analysts say. Studies have shown that specifications developed
through standards bodies are adopted more often by enterprises than
vendor-centric technology.
"This is a very good step for everyone," said Ronald Schmelzer, an analyst
at high-tech research firm ZapThink. "Now that BPEL has gone to OASIS,
people are going to flock to it."
Indeed, what's unclear is the effect the submission will have on similar
work underway by the W3C. With BPEL, OASIS will have work underway in all
three major areas of Web services development.
"The message is really starting to gel," Schmelzer said. "Oasis and the
WS-I are going to become two of the most influential organizations in
setting Web services standards."
WS-I, or the Web Services Interoperability Organization, is a vendor group
developing specifications for ensuring that Web services-enabled products
are able to work together without significant changes.
In January, the W3C created a Web services working group that includes
high-powered IT vendors Hewlett-Packard, Oracle and Sun Microsystems. W3C
officials could not say whether their work would overlap or complement
OASIS' effort, because they had not seen the charter that would govern the
work of the latter group's technical committee.
All of the BPEL authors, however, are members of the W3C. The standards
body couldn't understand why OASIS was chosen. "I would be hard pressed to
give a reason why organizations dedicated to getting Web services out the
door don't commit to an open way to do their work--having proposals
reviewed, having specifications reviewed and having ways to deal with
interoperability requirements," said Janet Daly, spokeswoman for W3C.
Executives at IBM and Microsoft said OASIS was chosen because the
organization is more focused on technical issues related to automating
business processes, whereas the W3C is more directed at lower-level
infrastructure technology related to Web services, such as SOAP.
"This kind of business process issue is something that the membership of
OASIS is well suited to provide input to and help to drive," said Karla
Norsworthy, director of dynamic e-business technologies at IBM. "We're
hopeful that the efforts are complementary, and we'll work with the
industry to drive in that direction."
But vendors tend to have different perceptions of the W3C and OASIS,
Schmelzer said. While the former is seen as having rigorous processes and
standards for creating and releasing specifications, the latter is
perceived as more lax and less controlled about what's released.
"What's needed is some sort of agreement about what various groups will
handle," Schmelzer said. "If not, we'll continue to find vendors working
one standards organization against another to no one's real benefit."

<i>This story courtesy of <a
href="http://www.techweb.com";>Techweb.com</a>.</i>


<endstory>

********** COPYRIGHT(C) 1999 CMP MEDIA INC. **********


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