IBM and Microsoft have been widely recognized as the driving forces behind these protocols that, for the most part, were hatched in the labs of one or both companies. However, not one of these protocols has yet received the imprimatur of either the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) or the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), the two standards-setting bodies for the Internet and Web. Several questions surround these protocols: Should they be made available on a royalty-free basis? What might IBM or Microsoft's motives be for not making them so available? Will the two companies attempt to transform the protocols, and extensions of them, into de facto standards without the support of publicly recognized standards bodies? Finally, will they assert those rights by charging Web developers and users a toll for using those protocols?
Given the two companies' collective strength, establishing de facto standards might not be so difficult. Together, IBM and Microsoft can market anything that they'd like to turn into a de facto standard, build the supporting technologies, and then give them away. That's exactly what's been happening.
A look back over the last two years of work in introducing technology, donating code to the open source community, and establishing vendor-run consortia to promote certain protocols makes for a great case study.
Later that year and amidst controversy--because competing XML directory work was taking place under the stewardship of the W3C--the two companies along with Ariba formed a directory standards organization called UDDI.org. Shortly thereafter, in a move reminiscent of the SOAP4 donation, IBM sealed UDDI's de facto standard status by open-sourcing the Java code for that as well.
In July 2001, the W3C again recognized an IBM and Microsoft-led request to consider the Web Service Description Language (WSDL) protocol as a standard. Later that year, IBM open-sourced its Eclipse technology that, among other things, is the basis of its WebSphere Studio development tools.
De facto standards at best
At best, they are de facto standards that have achieved popularity through IBM and Microsoft's advocacy of them and of Web services. To advance that advocacy (and under the guise of a charter to guarantee interoperability through the creation of test suites and sample applications) Microsoft and IBM created another organization--the Web Services Interoperability Organization. WS-I spokespersons insist that the organization will not be creating specifications. However, a document obtained by ZDNet indicates that the WS-I has already prepared the language necessary to protect the intellectual property (IP) rights of the WS-I's members should the organization choose to produce specifications.
Sections 1g and 1k in the WS-I's Intellectual Property Release agreement (IPR) clearly define the terms "draft specification" and "final specification" as separate from "testing material" and "sample applications." Section 2a(1) of the IPR goes on to say, "that the WS-I shall own, notwithstanding the retention by each Party of its ownership interest in its Contributions in accordance with section 2a(4) below, the copyright in any Final Specifications."
Potentially erasing any doubt over whether or not the WS-I intends to produce standards, the IPR's sections 2a(4) and 2d(1) guarantee that members whose intellectual property becomes a part of final specifications can maintain their ownership status and assert their intellectual property rights under a RAND-based licensing framework.
As a result, should the WS-I become recognized as a standards body, its seal of approval on standards could pave the way for IBM and Microsoft to place a tariff on most if not all e-commerce and Internet traffic.
To date, WSDL, SOAP, and UDDI and some related protocols are widely regarded as having achieved standards status. They've achieved nothing of the sort, because neither the W3C nor any other independent standards body has put their imprimaturs on them. SOAP, WSDL and related protocols are still the subjects of many of the W3C's working groups, a process that precedes ratification as a W3C standard (officially known as a W3C recommendation).
