The Weblog Bookwatch (found on this site) was mentioned in Slate today, along with Erik Benson's BookWatch Plus. It's a brief article explaining what Web Services are, why you should care, and why everyone's going to be doing it. This article doesn't go into any technical specifics—or mention any standards or protocols. They do describe why people are excited about them: "Web services are like LEGOs: They snap together in almost limitless combinations. As the big sites bring their Web services on board it's easy to imagine your home page summarizing the items you have for sale on eBay, displaying whether you're available to chat via AOL or Yahoo!, and mapping the current location of the airplane you're on via Expedia." Web Services = Application Syndication.
An article by Kevin Werbach in 2000 titled, The Web Goes Into Syndication pointed out that Amazon has always seen syndication as a good strategy; at that time through its affiliate program, and ZShops. He says, "By acting as a syndicator and a distributor of e-commerce, Amazon is turning the absence of scarcity on the Web from a threat into an advantage. The multitude of other sites that users visit are no longer alternatives to Amazon; they are opportunities for Amazon to expand its presence -- and its earnings." Web Services are just their latest effort to push out instead of trying to attract and hold. In other words, they get the Web.
An article by Kevin Werbach in 2000 titled, The Web Goes Into Syndication pointed out that Amazon has always seen syndication as a good strategy; at that time through its affiliate program, and ZShops. He says, "By acting as a syndicator and a distributor of e-commerce, Amazon is turning the absence of scarcity on the Web from a threat into an advantage. The multitude of other sites that users visit are no longer alternatives to Amazon; they are opportunities for Amazon to expand its presence -- and its earnings." Web Services are just their latest effort to push out instead of trying to attract and hold. In other words, they get the Web.