Re: [soa-rm-ra] A comment on ecosystems

[Ken Laskey <klaskey@mitre.org>]

Frank,

I believe we all agree on this, but I think you put it very well.  Our  
discussions have always pushed in the direction of the "appropriate"  
unexpected -- here, I'm differentiating from repurposing for malice or  
illegal profit.  Is there any place where we have limited ourselves?

Ken

P.S. I had a productive discussion with our TOG friends this morning,  
and I'd like to pass this along to them.  It also shows a repurposing  
of something that isn't necessarily within your enterprise.

On May 7, 2009, at 1:23 PM, Francis McCabe wrote:

> I mentioned that I had been thinking about ecosystems lately, and  
> this image captures an aspect of this nicely:
> <07moth-prac.jpg>
>
>
> The point here is that the icon for wifi has be repurposed in a way  
> that is both unexpected and obvious at the same time.
>
> The idea that somehow we can build an ecosystem where the only thing  
> that is going on is new services being added -- each of which is  
> neatly described etc. -- is naive. In a true ecosystem, the  
> different players build on each other in unexpected and non- 
> foreseable ways.
>
> Another example of this is Google. Google uses the web HTTP/HTML to  
> deliver its services. But its role in the web ecosystem is not  
> captured by HTTP/HTML. If you view its wordsense/advertising  
> functions as one of its most influential 'services', the full impact  
> of this is not felt by the delivery means.
>
> If you think about what will happen with the next 'big thing'; you  
> can be reasonably sure that (a) it will build on the success of  
> services like Google and (b) that it will do so in a way that is not  
> currently predictable (otherwise we would all be driving better cars).
>
> I can see a scenario where the next big thing in SOA will layer over  
> services, will use services and SOA concepts, but is not containable  
> by SOA concepts such as description and interaction.
>
> Do not know what this means for the RA, except that I have a strong  
> feeling that we have been limiting ourselves too much.
>
> Frank

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Ken Laskey
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