Parts is Parts
A service is a service, says James Fee. Well, maybe, if you overlook a score of architectural and implementation details like protocols, wire formats, governance, terms of use, data quality, etc. Another way to look at his post about the range of choice in software and services, if I'm not misreading it, is that the time is ever better for opportunistic companies to step out from behind the aegis of the monolithic platform and start serving customers creative, evolvable, and rightly-engineered solutions.
Comments
Re: Parts is Parts
Author: James Fee
Fair enough, every service isn't created the same. What I was getting at is I feel that current GIS implementors need to look at the end product before settling on a specific web service. Too many times I hear of the platform being presented before the product is developed. You just limit yourself that way.Re: Parts is Parts
Author: Paul Ramsey
No kidding, James, and the prescriptive attitude is one of the things I find most annoying in the consulting business. I don't start a carpentry project with a parts list, I start with a general idea, which I hone into a design, and then finally turn into a parts list. Imagine what I would turn out if I was pre-committed to only using 3-inch nails and leather hinges. However, vendor-centric mindsets are not in short supply in the decision-making halls of organizations large and small.