I saw Microsoft has started to contribute to the Apache Stonehenge project. That's a new project to build a web service-oriented architecture (SOA) around the Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP). RestMS and Zyre aim at the same space: web messaging using HTTP.
In the discussion on Slashdot, it's worth noting that not a single comment actually discussed the detail of the project. Clearly, SOAP and everything tied to it goes above most ordinary geeks' heads like Airforce 1 on its way to a G7 meeting.
The similarity between the two terms is coincidence but I'm sure someone will try to make SOAP mean the SOA Protocol. Anyhow, to cut a long story short, if no-one reading Slashdot can understand the importance of Stonehenge except as a basket for Microsoft donations, then the project is doomed to be an expensive "enterprise" bolt-on that will never get traction.
Ironic for Apache, which started life as a web server that everyone could download, hack, and improve.
