Slashdot Mirror
Web Service Mod for Apache
Michael writes "In the article "Will Open Source Lose the Battle for the Web?" a lot of people wondered what role Apache will play in a future that might be dominated by .Net.
The company for which I work created a mod for Apache called NetHesive that converts a standalone library or application into a web service. NetHesive provides a wire format that's cleaner than SOAP and allows expert conversion between native data and the public interface.
Most importantly, it supports SOAP 1.2 along with custom XML procedure calls. We're not sure we ever want to develop for .Net but we want to leave that possibility open. We thought other developers might feel the same way, so we created a method for deploying a web service that doesn't lock us out of any future frameworks.
We're curious about Apache fans' reactions to NetHesive. Does this answer some of your concerns about Apache's future?"
Most of your comments are accurate, but I do think you missed one point. The developer who uses the release version of NetHesive will not need to write the configuration file by hand. We have some nice tools coming online to do that for you. Does that make your life easier? =)
The question about licensing is also a very good one. We recognize that OSS is changing the world in many significant ways. Contrary to the assumptions in one of the posts here, the web site does not specifically state whether NetHesive will be open or closed source. We're still debating which way to go. Why don't you share your thoughts in our survey?
Click here to participate!
We're listening and want your input. Tell us how we can maintain an open source product, control quality and keep paying our developers! (And yes, we've read the many many posts about that exact topic on Slashdot. Consider our ongoing debate an indicator of how well those posts answered this question.)