Microsoft SOA

[Dave T]

Can anyone point me to something that pretty clearly defines what Microsoft's
vision of Service Oriented Architecture is and how they suggest you implement
it (best pactices maybe)?

 

[AlexS]

Look at workflow foundation + BizTalk + web services and other process
inter-operation topics. Drop in web server, messaging and you have complete
SOA environment.

Vision is that you can build any SOA environment using MS services and
components. Anyway, SOA is just another hype slogan. Paradigm existed since
the early times, just nobody bothered to standardize architecture.

For example Tibco or IBM are too much centered on Java-only approach. MS
says that you can do all this using VB.Net, C# or J#. Or whatever language
you use for .Net

I don't get why IBM doesn't implement core .Net on their platforms. Why such
obstinacy with Java-only approach?

 

[CharlieH]

Roger Sessions has been in the forefront of articulating SOA on the Microsoft
platform. You can read his white papers at www.objectwatch.com. Go back to
March of 2005 for the earliest discussions. He is actually ahead of Microsoft
in how to use Microsoft technologies for SOA. I wouldn't depend too heavily
on Microsoft evangelists for this--it's an enterprise architecture subject.
Others outside of MS seem to think about architecture more vigorously than MS
evangelists. It's not a criticism, just that MS needs to sell products to the
largest population. Selling SOA is a bit harder than selling how to build
GUIs or web services or databases.

Steve Resnick with MS is a great thinker in this area. He said he was
working on a book for MS Press, but I don't see it yet. Also, Microsoft's
Integration Patterns is a decent book from an EAI point of view. WCF
certainly holds promise for SOA as well. But get independent thinking on
SOA--don't depend on a vendor to lead the way.