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Did you see the SOA Manifesto? It seems that software vendors and SOA luminaries feel the need to fire up some enthusiasm for SOA, so they are trying to replicate the success that the Agile Manifesto had in defining and focusing Agile development.

Unfortunately, the manifesto is a bit of a muddle, maybe reflecting different opinions among the authors. Half of the three principles are top-down, build-it-right, architecture-focused (”Strategic goals over project-specific benefits”, “Intrinsic interoperability over custom integration”, “Shared services over specific-purpose implementations”). Two are bottom-up, build-it-now (”Flexibility over optimization”, “Evolutionary refinement over pursuit of initial perfection”). And one is a platitude (”Business value over technical strategy”) - did anybody ever say they placed technical strategy over business value?

It is interesting to compare these six principles with the clarity and inspiration of the Agile Manifesto. Perhaps the difference stems from the fact that the authors of the SOA Manifesto are almost all vendor representatives and SOA authors, while the authors of the Agile Manifesto were mainly people working as consultants on real projects.

The SOA manifesto fails to inspire me…

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I’m spending the weekend writing abstracts for the ODTUG Kaleidoscope conference 2010, which will be held in Washington, D.C. June 27 through July 1.If you have solved an interesting challenge, have a real-life project experience to share or have tried out some of the latest technology, I strongly encourage you to submit an abstract.If your abstract is accepted, you’ll get the honor of speaking at the premier Oracle development conference in the world and you are sure to learn a lot yourself as you prepare your paper and presentation…See you in Washington D.C. in June!

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Leaving the details of the individual sessions aside, the impression from this year’s OpenWorld is that of a shift in Oracle’s perception of themselves.

Oracle used to present itself as a technology company that happened to use its technology to build applications. Now, Oracle is an applications company that happens to build some technology (software and hardware) as needed for its applications.

This was evident from the main keynotes that focused almost exclusively on Oracle applications present and future. There was no mention of any news in either database or middleware - this was relegated to the smaller Oracle Develop sub-conference. Looking at the tag cloud in the official Schedule Builder, you search in vain for any mention of PL/SQL or Application Express - even Fusion Development (ADF) get only a small mention.

For a developer this means:

1. The core products used for Oracle applications (Fusion/ADF/BPEL) will be around for a very long time.
2. The non-core products (ODP.NET, Application Express, etc.) will live only as long as there is a significant community using them.

This does not mean that either ODP.NET or APEX is going away (both have strong communities), but it means that it is up to the developer community to keep Oracle interested in these products.

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It’s time for Oracle OpenWorld in San Francisco again - I’ll be speaking on Sunday Oct. 11 at the User Group symposium on “Simple SOA - A Real-Life Case Study”. It’s session S312178 in Moscone West L3 room 3000 at 11:15 a.m.

I will also be participating in the ADF Enterprise Methodology Group sessions, both on Sunday Oct 11 in Moscone West L3 room 3014 at 10:30 a.m. and in the Unconference on Wednesday Oct 14 at 1:00 p.m. If you are interested in Oracle ADF, look up the ADF EMG sessions and join the group.

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