J2EE™ Platform Web Services

Foreword

This book is about big ideas and fine details—the possible and the practical. Amid the hype surrounding Web services, the central question is this: When will we get there?

The answer, as you'll see in the following pages, is that we're already there—and still have a long way to go.

By now, the vision is almost universal: Emerging standards will increase the Internet's ability to deliver exactly what we need, precisely when we need it.

Indeed, the conveniences are fun to imagine: Your car's navigation system checking your calendar to see where you want to go next and showing you the best way to get through traffic. Your flight delay triggering a change in your dinner reservation and an instant notification on your wireless phone or pager. ...