Re: The feeding frenzy on ebXML continues...

[Tim McGrath <tmcgrath@tedis.com.au>]

i agree with this sentiment.  we do not want to fall into the 'EDI was a lemon'
camp - a naive view and a fundamental mistake.  despite the rhetoric, ebXML and all
flavours of eCommerce will struggle with the many technical, operational,
commercial and political difficulties of EDI.

we should always try to emphasise the value our collective EDI experience brings
NOT that EDI didn't work and therefore we are coming up with something different.

the vast range of EDI knowledge is one of the main things that differentiates ebXML
from other initiatives.

having said that i have to express my personal note of caution that with our push
to the 'ebXML infrastructure' we must not lose site of the 'content' -  it is our
knowledge of the business processes and core components that exploit this
advantage.


Alan Kotok wrote:

> William, MAE Team:
>
> There have been at least two more straight news reports of the demo that I
> found ...
>
> CNET:
> http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1003-200-4116924.html
>
> and Infoworld:
> http://www.infoworld.com/articles/hn/xml/00/12/13/001213hndemo.xml
>
> If these stories were reported here before, my apologies.  The reader
> responses to the CNET story are a little freaky ... there's something about
> the UN and globalization that brings out the best in some people.
>
> Dick Brooks's note touched an important factor that most commentators have
> overlooked, and that we may want to emphasis stronger in our messages.  We
> say that ebXML builds on the two decades or more of EDI experience, but we
> do not really say much about what that means.  EDI transactions, for better
> or worse, have thought through the semantics of what companies in the
> various industries need for exchanging data.  Brooks mentions the various
> industry groups that have been involved in the demos.  Look at the
> accumulated knowledge of doing business with those companies.  There is no
> way that a single-vendor product cooked up in a vacuum can duplicate that
> kind of experience.
>
> The first example one usually sees of an XML business message is a purchase
> order.  In the paper industry however, the EDI transactions used far and
> away most often are ship notices, not purchase orders.  Paper companies
> have nothing against purchase orders, but the critical pieces of
> information that the customers need electronically are the identification
> numbers on the rolls of paper shipped to long-run printers.  With EDI and
> these bar coded roll numbers, the customers can better manage their
> inventories and get closer to a just-in-time environment, with significant
> savings and less waste.  Any solution involving EDI for this industry must
> meet this important business threshold.  How can a general product from a
> single vendor every hope to capture this kind of knowledge?  This is the
> real benefit that EDI brings to the ebXML table.
>
> Alan Kotok
> Director, Education and Information Resources
> Data Interchange Standards Association
> akotok@disa.org
> +1 703-518-4174
> ** DISA's E-Business and Internet Conference, 7-9 March 2001, in San Francisco.
> http://www.disa.org/conference/annual_conf/index.htm **
>
> At 02:58 PM 12/16/00 -0500, you wrote:
> >Dick Brooks just a few minutes ago eloquently responded on behalf of
> >ebXML to Meta Group vice president Will Zachmann, who was quoted to have
> >said "Microsoft's story on this (XML) front is much more coherent than
> >any other companies have to offer. ...The only real alternative to
> >BizTalk is, ebXML and it's lame. It's just Sun and a bunch of
> >bureaucrats backing it."  See "Microsoft, Sun in new clash:
> >Arch rivals square off, this time on the standards front. Call it the
> >XML Holy Wars redux," by Mary Jo Foley, ZDNet News, December 12, 2000,
> >at http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2663888,00.html.
> >Dick's e-mail is copied in the Transport mailing list archive at
> >http://lists.ebxml.org/archives/ebxml-transport/200012/msg00195.html.
> >
> >Unfortunately, the quote has emboldened other critics, and the feeding
> >frenzy on ebXML continues:  see "XML factions develop along familiar
> >lines," by Margret Johnston in InfoWorld, Friday, Dec. 15, 2000, at
> >http://www.infoworld.com/news/thisweek.html, where Dave Wascha,
> >Microsoft's product manager for BizTalk Server 2000 "accused Palo Alto,
> >Calif.-based Sun of hyping ebXML before it is final and said that
> >Microsoft doesn't have a position on ebXML because 'the spec isn't even
> >done.' He added that he and his colleagues at Microsoft refer to ebXML
> >as 'slideware,' meaning they believe it exists only on presentation
> >slides."
> >
> >I resent Wascha's purported (I hardly ever believe the press, so I'm
> >willing to give Wascha the benefit of the doubt - perhaps Infoworld put
> >words in his mouth) slur on ebXML.  I think its a hurtful slam of my
> >good and dear friend, David RR Webber.  And besides, "slideware" is a
> >trademark owned by Columbus' own beloved White Castle hamburger chain,
> >"home of the SlydersŪ," at http://www.whitecastle.com/home.asp.
> >
> >William J. Kammerer
> >FORESIGHT Corp.
> >4950 Blazer Memorial Pkwy.
> >Dublin, OH USA 43017-3305
> >+1 614 791-1600
> >
> >Visit FORESIGHT Corp. at http://www.foresightcorp.com/
> >"Commerce for a New World"

--
regards
tim mcgrath
TEDIS   fremantle  western australia 6160
phone: +618 93352228  fax: +618 93352142

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