RE: [soa-rm] Service Consumer in RM or not?

["Metz Rebekah" <metz_rebekah@bah.com>]

Duane, 

I agree that the committee needs to reach some consensus on these
issues.  

That said, I suggest that maybe we take a step back to understand *why*
there is such difference in opinion (other than we all relish and learn
from healthy intellectual debate).  We might have better luck in
reaching consensus on these causes rather than consensus of the
'symptoms' per se.

When looking at this issue, it appears to me that what we're really
trying to reach consensus on is the key characteristics of these
constructs/concepts.  For example, I would argue that a key
characteristic of a message is that it its role in *exchange*.  
Thus, it seems to me that we might be proverbially touching different
parts of the same elephant with blindfolds on, essentially looking at
the same thing but resonating more closely with certain characteristics.


To add more fodder to the conversation, I would ask, is a message a
message if it is not exchanged?  In response, I looked for tangible
examples outside of the technical realm for metaphors that would help
the gap between these perspectives.  For example, my husband and I are
looking to purchase a home.  When we found a property that we wanted, we
put in a contract on that house.  However, it was not a contract, in the
legal sense of the word, until the seller accepted the terms of the
contract and it became ratified.  Thus, the critical characteristic of
the contract would be ratification, or mutual acceptance of the terms.
I would equate this to the view that the critical characteristic of a
message is its exchange.  Alternatively, one could take the position
that a contract existed as soon as we completed the paperwork.  Only its
status or state changed (submitted, ratified, rejected, etc) changed as
events occurred.  I would equate this to the viewpoint that a message is
a message even if not exchanged.  Both perspectives are valid, but
different - and have implications on the overall model we build.

Perhaps heading toward consensus from this perspective will be more
unifying than divisive?

Rebekah

> I would like to call for a vote on this too to put it to bed for once
an
> all.  My assertion = If I architect something with a service, a
consumer
> does not have to be present for it to be "service oriented".   Nor do
> messages, networks, signals, pings, security, encryption etc etc.
This
> is much the same as stating that a "message" does not have to be sent
in
> order for it to be a "message".  It can exist with or without being
> transmitted.
> 
> If we do go the way of the service provider and service consumer, this
> could be done in an illustrative (non-normative) manner in the RM or
> (and I favor this idea) as part of a reference architecture.  If we do
> vote to include the SC, we then have to open up the RM to everything
> else that follows which means that it won't be a RM, it will be
> architecture.
> 
> I had hoped we could gain consensus on this and avoid a vote however I
> feel a vote may be inevitable.
> 
> BTW - has anyone else noticed that the list is very slow today? It
took
> 5 hours for my last message to come back to me via this list?
> 
> Duane