Hacktivity Level

The 'hacktivity level' is way up. Casual services, dynamic scripting and remixing are clearly the theme for 2005. JSON, POX, REST, RSS, etc. have taken hold - they've intersected with client-side contextual applications like Google Maps to create what some people would have called a composite application - you may prefer the terms remix or mash-up. Even Business Week is taking notice.

SOAP & WS-* have turned into the stiff-collared, corporate world, slow to move technologies. Once again, our passionate technology community is breaking all the rules and creating compelling applications - and I love it.

Hacker - 'I need that service and that other service. I need to combine them. I need a server-side aggregation engine. I need to re-serve the combined service. I wonder who will enrich/transform my service? Who cares. I need a client-side visualization mechanism. It has to have easy API's that front-end the data services. Damn this is cool. Interesting - it looks like a 'web of services'. Clients. I need contextual pivoting - Maps - Austin - Concert Halls - Concerts - Reviews - Tickets - Buy - Receipt - Calendar.'

CIO - "Did you see what some hacker did with concert reservations? Can we provide our core services to the outside world? Wait - can we consume other peoples services and create our own application out of them??" - Why yes.

The World Wide Web is turning into the Service Oriented Web. The technologies will be stiff and flimsy; the artists will be straight-laced and no-laced. The intersection will be magnificent; the Web is reborn. The SOAP/WS "transactional web" will be a portion of the new SOW, perhaps a small portion. Our future will be driven by those who have the passion and desire to create it.