xmlhack: SOAP 1.1 becomes W3C Note

The week before the W3C's XML Protocols Shakedown at WWW9, SOAP 1.1 has been submitted as a W3C Note.

Released in late April, the SOAP 1.1 specification describes a lightweight protocol for remote procedure calls, using XML as its encoding. Originally designed by Microsoft, DevelopMentor and Userland Software, it was notable that authors from IBM and Lotus joined for this most recent revision.

The W3C has accepted the SOAP submission noting that, as ever, "placing a Submission on a Working Group/Interest Group agenda does not imply endorsement by either the W3C Staff or the participants of the Working Group/Interest Group".

The W3C team commented on the SOAP submission, saying that its object serialization scheme needed to be more explicit, and that:

Also we think that security considerations should have a central place in such a design, as it is always more difficult, if not impossible, to add security afterwards.

This last comment provides an interesting contrast to recent comments with regard to SOAP on XML-DEV, where the general feeling was that SOAP was security-neutral, and that the application layer should be responsible for security.

SOAP was originally being pursued as an Internet Draft. However, this seems to have halted with the possibility of the W3C pursuing an XML protocols activity.

Next week's WWW9 panel will be a significant meeting of minds on the topic of XML protocols. In particular, it will be interesting to note the reaction of the industry to the SOAP proposal, where there is still distinct polarization of opinion. xmlhack will be at WWW9 and bringing you updates during the week.