Within the industry, a schism already present was made deeper when developers were routinely asked "which side" they were on, whether they were supporters of "open" standards and "community-driven" development, or whether they were trying to support the evil corporate conglomerates. Such thinking can create serious obstacles to interoperability, a big objective of Java, .NET, and Web services. These issues are discussed in Ted Neward's inaugural blog post for TheServerSide Interoperability Blog, a new kid in the blogosphere. Writes Ted:

It's not like these arguments really do much for our customers and clients. Truth be told, few of the people who use our software can even tell which platform the silly thing was written in, much less how it being written in Java will somehow make the world a more free place.

That means taking Microsoft's tools and technologies and tying them into Java's, and vice versa.

Neward points to the famed statesman who said: "A house divided cannot stand," and he welcomes the world to our Interoperability blog. "Please check your politics at the door," he writes, "we care only about how tools can be used to solve problems."

Maybe it would be more helpful (and certainly less sensational) to see "politics" here simply as memory/experience with certain vendors who go out of their way to lock you into their One True Way at the expense of interoperability with tools from other vendors. Indeed many vendors are guilty here, but I shun all that are in favor of those who try to compete by offering the best implementation of accepted standards.

Ted is putting the onus on developers to find the value that neither Microsoft nor the Java community seem willing to promote. Ted is a really smart guy, great book writer, and avid fence rider. Unfortunately, most of us are just trying to keep up with either camp. Our IT management is trying to not look stupid by flip-flopping on architectures or diluting the developer and systems management knowledge-base by supporting two camps. Ted is trying to show the value but there has to be critical mass or at lest movement on WS-* to get going.