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Re: [DotGNU]This Year in DotGNU 2002 (DRAFT)
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From: |
Peter Minten |
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Subject: |
Re: [DotGNU]This Year in DotGNU 2002 (DRAFT) |
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Date: |
Fri, 22 Nov 2002 18:34:56 +0100 |
New version attached, I added a part 'Webservices - what's the mystery?'.
Greetings,
Peter
DRAFT VERSION 2
========================= START DOCUMENT =============================
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* *
* Foreword *
* *
* by Philosophy Working Group leader Peter Minten *
* *
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2002 has been a year of maturation for DotGNU. Old plans were replaced
with new plans, old project with new projects and in a sense old
people with new people.
The year also carried some nasty suprises. One of the biggest problems
was (and still) is lack of developers. The other big problem was lack
of code. For the architecture projects the ground work of
specification writing had to be done first before any code could be
written, luckily the specs are in the final phase and coding work is
expected to begin soon.
But despite the slowdown created by these problems there were was a
cause for celebration. The Portable.NET project reached it's most
important milestone, the compiler can now compile the baselib
removing dependency on the Microsoft C# compiler.
In the fall the organization of DotGNU was reorganized. Working
Groups were created to support cooperation between similar projects.
The leaders of all the Working Groups come together in the DotGNU
Working Group which effectively acts like a cabinet for DotGNU.
Each Working Group will explain it's goals later in this text.
The role of the Steering Committee was scaled down a bit to that
of high court. The SC still acts as the highest power in DotGNU,
but it doesn't set out the course anymore.
Last but not least the focus of DotGNU is beginning to shift from
providing as much compatibility with .NET as possible to building
a webservice supporting system which is only compatible with .NET
where absolutely needed. The DotGNU system will be a bridge which
applications can use to communicate with other applications
regardless of where those applications run, in what language they
are written, etc.
That's about what happened in the second year of DotGNU. The rest of
this message contains some background info, information about the
various active projects, explanation on the individual Working Groups,
a who is who list and developer testimonials.
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------------------------- BACKGROUND INFO ---------------------------
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* *
* Webservices - what's the mystery? *
* *
* by Philosophy Working Group leader Peter Minten *
* *
**********************************************************************
Webservices, it's a buzzword in ICT, MS best bet, the core piece of
the next generation internet. But still who really understands what
they are?
Webservices are a hype, the expectations people have of them are
simply too high to be justified. One of the reasons for this is that
not many people can describe what they actually are, without using
marketing terms like 'The Next Big Thing'.
So it's time for some education from somebody who thinks he knows
what he's talking about. First of all let's look at the official
DotGNU definition of webservices:
<quote from DotGNU FAQ>
1.05 How do you define "webservice"?
"Webservices" are any services that are offered on the web
(regardless of what technology is used to provide them).
In order to turn this statement into an actual definition,
these explanations need to be added:
a) With "service" we mean not only that some functionality is
provided, but that there should also be some description of
this functionality, namely how the service should be used and
what it provides.
b) With saying that the service is "offered on the web" we mean
that it's offered on the internet via standard protocols,
i.e. protocols that are open, widely published, and freely
available for anyone to implement.
It is sometimes useful to distinguish between "webservice
components" which are meant to be used by other webservices, and
"webservice applications" which are meant to be used by humans
more directly. Both "webservice components" and "webservice
applications" are "webservices" as defined above.
<end quote>
Let's translate this into clear English. Webservices are things that
use the web to communicate with other things. They provide
functionality (they do something) and also tell other things what
they do and how they should be used (what input they need).
Webservices use standard protocols for communication, note that this
is not obvious, it's perfectly possible that a group of people decide
to use secret patented protocols for their 'webservices'.
I have to correct one error in the definition here: webservices don't
need to be offered on the internet, they can also be offered on (for
example) an intranet.
The definition also makes a difference between webservice components
(which are meant to be used by other applications) and webservice
applications (which are meant to be used by humans). There can be
a third form however, that communicates with both other applications
and humans. I recommend calling this form hybrid webservices. Note
that I don't talk about webservice components being used only by
other webservices because they can also be used by non-webservices.
So far for the pure definition stuff. Now what's the cool part
everybody is talking about?
The cool thing about webservices is that when you link them together
you could get a gaint complex network of computing where the most
impossible things become possible without writing code for it. Now
to pop the bubble: this is not new, this is what the inventors of
UNIX had in mind too when they created pipes and standard streams.
The only new part is that a lot of important organizations are now
trying to put up protocols to solve old problems with communication
between applications. If they are successful (have to see that first
to believe it) all webservices can understand eachother.
But that doesn't automatically mean that communication between
webservices will be easy, since every webservice will be a little
different from other webservices in the details. These little
differences will become big differences as time goes by. At the same
time people will try to preserve interoperability. Various standards
will emerge and split the world of webservices.
This may sound like a doomsday scenario, but it's already taking
place. Just look at the multi-platform bytecode systems that form the
foundation of webservice platforms. You have IL from Microsoft there,
Java from Sun and Parrotcode from the Parrot developers (note that
DotGNU will support all major bytecodes). Don't think that in the
end one bytecode will win the market, MS and Sun are software
super powers that will create a stable undecided situation between
their bytecodes, and Parrotcode is Free Software with the support
of a very large community (Parrotcode is the bytecode of Perl and
in the future probably of Python and Ruby too).
The last topic I'm going to talk about is the user interface. The
'new' part of webservices is that they run on another computer and
communicate with the user using mostly a graphical user interface
without automatically needed a browser (though webservices can use a
browser, take Phpgroupware for example). Ever heard of X? X could
create user interfaces on a workstation while running on a server
since more than a decade ago.
Now, to give a clear answer to the central question of this text
(Webservices, what's the mystery?): what mystery?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------- PROJECTS -------------------------------
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**********************************************************************
* *
* Portable.NET *
* *
* by somebody *
* *
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[TEXT HERE]
**********************************************************************
* *
* Virtual Remote Server *
* *
* by somebody *
* *
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[TEXT HERE]
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* *
* Secure Execution Enviroment *
* *
* by somebody *
* *
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[TEXT HERE]
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* *
* address@hidden *
* *
* by somebody *
* *
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[TEXT HERE]
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* DotGNU Forum System *
* *
* by project leader Peter Minten *
* *
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[TEXT HERE]
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--------------------------- WORKING GROUPS ---------------------------
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* *
* Foundation Code *
* *
* by somebody *
* *
**********************************************************************
[TEXT HERE]
**********************************************************************
* *
* Authorization *
* *
* by somebody *
* *
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[TEXT HERE]
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* *
* Architecture *
* *
* by somebody *
* *
**********************************************************************
[TEXT HERE]
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* *
* Public Relations *
* *
* by somebody *
* *
**********************************************************************
[TEXT HERE]
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* *
* Philosophy *
* *
* by Philosophy Working Group leader Peter Minten *
* *
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[TEXT HERE]
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* *
* Webservices *
* *
* by Philosophy Working Group leader Peter Minten *
* *
**********************************************************************
(NOTE: The Webservices WG doesn't have a leader at the moment so I'll
write it's piece, unless of course somebody wants to take up the job
(hint, hint :-))
[TEXT HERE]
**********************************************************************
* *
* Business *
* *
* by Philosophy Working Group leader Peter Minten *
* *
**********************************************************************
(NOTE: The Business WG doesn't have a leader at the moment so I'll
write it's piece, unless of course somebody wants to take up the job
(hint, hint :-))
[TEXT HERE]
----------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------ WHO IS WHO IN DOTGNU ------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------
In 2002 a lot of new developers stepped up to take responsibility in
DotGNU. Here is a list of all major developers (sorted alfabetically
on family name):
Peter Minten (silvernerd)
* Philosophy Working Group leader
* Forum project leader
Andrew Mitchell (ajmitch)
* Foundation Code Working Group leader
* DotGNU-Libs project leader
* Portable.NET developer
Chris Smith (Chris_S)
* Architecture Working Group leader
* VRS developer
Gopal V. (t3rmin4t0r)
* Public Relations Working Group leader
* Portable.NET lead developer and premier bughunter
* DotGNU-Libs project leader
Rhys Wheaterley (rhysw)
* Portable.NET project leader
* Steering Committee member
[OTHER NAMES HERE]
----------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------- DEVELOPER TESTIMONIALS -----------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------
[TEXT HERE]
______________________________________________________________________
This Year in DotGNU 2002
All texts are Copyright (C) 2002 of their respective owners.
Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or
any later version published by the Free Software Foundation.
========================== END DOCUMENT ==============================
- [DotGNU]This Year in DotGNU 2002 (DRAFT), Peter Minten, 2002/11/16
- RE: [DotGNU]This Year in DotGNU 2002 (DRAFT), Bob Calco, 2002/11/17
- Re: [DotGNU]This Year in DotGNU 2002 (DRAFT),
Peter Minten <=
- Quote of the Year (was Re: [DotGNU]This Year in DotGNU 2002 (DRAFT)), Stephen Compall, 2002/11/24
- Re: Quote of the Year (was Re: [DotGNU]This Year in DotGNU 2002 (DRAFT)), Rhys Weatherley, 2002/11/24
- Re: Quote of the Year (was Re: [DotGNU]This Year in DotGNU 2002 (DRAFT)), Peter Minten, 2002/11/24
- Re: Quote of the Year (was Re: [DotGNU]This Year in DotGNU 2002 (DRAFT)), Rhys Weatherley, 2002/11/24
- Re: Quote of the Year (was Re: [DotGNU]This Year in DotGNU 2002 (DRAFT)), Peter Minten, 2002/11/24
- Re: Quote of the Year (was Re: [DotGNU]This Year in DotGNU 2002 (DRAFT)), Rhys Weatherley, 2002/11/24