RE: Web services and the Semantic Web

Mark,

Your article assumes the ontological problem is solved -- I am saying I
don't assume that the Semantic Web is yet reality.  However, Web services
are.

With regard to mapping I mean mapping to an executable program.  I don't see
anything in the RDF examples in your article that indicates how RDF is
mappable to programs.  You are just showing that an endpoint can be
described using RDF.

I am not sure what you mean by my not understanding the Web.  I do have a
distributed computing background, that's true -- 24 years or so, mostly in
online transaction processing.  But I have spent the last two years on XML
and the Web, and I think I have at least a basic understanding of the Web.
What I don't see is the diffrerence RDF makes to the Web today, and the
compelling reason for using it rather than XML in Web services -- and in
particular why we should consider reinventing XML based Web services in RDF
if we have to assume the ontological problem is solved -- which it isn't,
and in fact may never be.  Witness the problems with UDDI...

Eric

-----Original Message-----
From: Mark Baker [mailto:distobj@acm.org]
Sent: Saturday, May 25, 2002 10:25 PM
To: Eric Newcomer
Cc: Sanjiva Weerawarana; www-ws-arch@w3.org
Subject: Web services and the Semantic Web


Eric,

On Sat, May 25, 2002 at 08:27:12PM -0400, Eric Newcomer wrote:
> I realize there's a difference of opinion over the relative importance of
> the Web services activity and the semantic Web activity, but I also do not
> think recasting WSDL in RDF helps bridge that gap.  The differnce is
> philosophical, not technical IMHO.

IMO, it's exactly the opposite.  There are excellent technical reasons
for choosing the Semantic Web.  The problem is, it's impossible for
somebody to understand these reasons unless they first understand how
the Web works.  That is the essence of the divide between these two
camps, in my experience.

FWIW, I recently wrote this for the XMLP WG.  I just beefed up the
bit at the end about the Semantic Web;

http://www.markbaker.ca/2002/05/GettingStuffDoneOnTheWeb/

> The semantic Web activity to me appears
> more concerned with ontology and categorization than mapping, which is
what
> Web services are all about.  And how does RDF relate to mapping?

What do you mean by "mapping"?

MB
--
Mark Baker, CTO, Idokorro Mobile (formerly Planetfred)
Ottawa, Ontario, CANADA.               distobj@acm.org
http://www.markbaker.ca        http://www.idokorro.com

Received on Saturday, 25 May 2002 22:37:10 UTC