# Hitachi Position Paper, Web of Services for Enterprise Computing Workshop

Bob Freund, for Hitachi Ltd

## Current haphazard tessellation[1] amongst standardization bodies is harmful, confusing and employs too many lawyers

Hard to follow:
  - Large companies can watch several standardization bodies, but it is not possible for small companies
  - This is especially difficult for Japanese companies because most information on current activities is provided in English only.
  - If you blink, you might miss the moment of harmony.
Irregular Partitioning:
  - Potential specification submitters wonder where to submit
  - Is the rule core to W3C and app-level to OASIS?
  - … or is it transport to W3C and protocol to OASIS (er, which is which?)
  - … or is it Webbish to W3C and other to OASIS unless it is DMTF or maybe we form a new group…?
  - N.B., there is no Web in Web services; ah maybe yes or no
  - Decision seems to be increasingly arbitrary
  - … unless it is based purely on the political climate. (and that seems to be pretty weird, or is it just the way things are these days?)
Same People are Everywhere in Web services
  - In the course of a week, we hear the same voices on teleconferences of at least three different organizations.
  - There are really fewer than it seems; they move around so quickly.
  - OASIS, W3C, and WS-I share many of the same key members
Was there a Second Shooter on the Grassy Knoll?[2]
  - It is unthinkable that the current situation would be by intent, or was it?
  - We should consider intelligent design with respect to the scope of the organizations
  - We can take a more Darwinian approach to the technology
  - Let chaos develop tasty new species.
  - We can work on the cookbook and the standards later
Alternatives?
  - Declaration of scope of technologies to be covered by W3C
  - Explicit partitioning, even in relative expression to other standardization bodies like OASIS, may be beneficial.
  - By limiting the scope of technologies, W3C may be able to optimize its investment.
  - In the Web services area, explicit cooperation with OASIS may be helpful. (diplomacy, a treaty perhaps, but at OASIS five folks willing to take the time can form a TC on anything[3])

- [1] Animation Aquarium, available at http://tessellations.org/animation-aquarium.htm
- [2] Conspiracy Theories, available at http://www.carpenoctem.tv/cons/
- [3] OASIS Tax XML TC, available at http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/tc_home.php?wg_abbrev=tax