[ogsa-wg] use case template

[Geoffrey Fox]

Your arguments are reasonable. However the interplay of the currently 
naive but broadly based Web 2.0 versus sophisticated Web Services with a 
smaller base is not so clear I think.
In any case, I actually suggested just looking at implications of 
mashups and mashup tools for requirements; I didn't suggest not using 
workflow

Donal K. Fellows wrote:
> Geoffrey Fox wrote:
>> As you gather requirements, I would suggest looking at several 
>> mashups and the new generation of (workflow) tools they are supported 
>> by such as http://www.protosw.com/ (which offer an ipod a day in 
>> their mashup building contest) and Yahoo pipes 
>> http://pipes.yahoo.com/pipes/. A trivial discussion of mashups versus 
>> workflow is at 
>> http://grids.ucs.indiana.edu/ptliupages/presentations/Web20Mar04-07.ppt
>>
>> I am known for following fads too much but I think the rather complex 
>> web service workflow will face increasing competition from Mashup 
>> technology with its naturally larger customer and developer base.
>
> While some mashups do show the power of ad-hoc programming, there are
> areas where workflows have a distinct set of benefits. Firstly, I've
> been discovering over the past months how workflows are key to many
> business processes and planning (e.g. airports aren't mashups, even if
> they look like it superficially to travellers). Secondly, every mashup
> I've ever heard of relies on having the end user as a computation locus;
> the mashup is in their browser. The problem is that this requires the
> end user to be present and using a (full featured) browser. In turn,
> that restricts the applicability quite strongly, especially in relation
> to small devices and part-time networks. It's also not clear to me just
> how well mashups tackle security; I've certainly read in the past that
> this is a distinct problem from a privacy perspective. It's usually much
> clearer what is going on with a workflow, and that clarity is important
> in many application domains (especially ones with non-trivial legal
> requirements).
>
> In short, workflows (especially not service-oriented ones) can go places
> where mashups can't; the mashup advantage is in the presentation layer
> and not the business-logic layer. Maybe some businesses will try to keep
> the business-logic layer largely transparent so as to better support
> mashups, but many (most?) won't and there are many known problems with
> the approach of putting lots of critical code in the presentation layer.
>
> Donal.
>

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