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It's really interesting to read various people's opinions, findings and experiences
about service-oriented architecture (SOA) and cloud computing coming from a
background in distributed computing. Effectively, for me, these universes break
down into two camps: the "Newbies" and the "Gray Hairs."
The reasons leading to these abstractions is partially to be comical, but also
partially due the way these communities express themselves with regard to SOA
and cloud computing. Most importantly, neither of these classifications are
indicative that either group is inherently correct or incorrect in their assessments
and/or statements.
Learn how to get into the cloud right here.
Let's start by analyzing the Newbies. Newbies have a ton of energy and passion
that they bring to the topic matter. They may or may not have real world experiences
in working with the corresponding topic, but their perspectives are driven by
an honest attempt to learn and grow quickly. Some Newbies will make assertions
that are categorically incorrect, but more so as a means of scientific study
than an attempt to be arrogant...sometimes. The biggest issue with Newbies is
that their writings and assertions are missing the historic perspective that
is reserved for those that have been an active participant in the information
technology industry since the early 1990s.
"Gray Hairs" are exactly what you'd expect them to be -- experienced
individuals that have been there, done that and got the button-down, long-sleeved,
logo-over-the-left-pocket shirt to prove it. Many of these individuals do not
participate actively in forums where information is openly shared on these topics,
but occassionally, you will see a well-thought-out article from one of them
indicating the missed issues, unaccounted for logic and other misguided beliefs.
In general, the Gray Hairs are skeptics and cynics, but with good reason; most
of what we see surrounding SOA and the cloud are not new.
Somewhere between these two groups is a truth -- one I hope this writing brings
to light.
With regard to SOA, the Newbie group tends to be comprised of developers, while
Gray Hairs is comprised of architects and IT management. The clash here is obvious.
The Gray Hairs have lived through implementing systems using DCE, Object-Oriented,
Client/Server, Component Based Development, CORBA and EAI (brokers). It is hardly
likely they will be easily convinced something called an architecture but spoken
of like technology is going to deliver what these other similar initiatives
could not.
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