Everything old is new again

Via Patrick Logan comes this insight from Steve Loughran:

By adding all the functions of CORBA to SOAP, WS-* replicates the old world of distributed computing, only with underpinnings (HTTP, XML) not designed for that particular role.

That's pretty much the size of it. We now have CORBA all over again, even including all of the superfluous services that three people on the planet might need, someday, maybe.