Jon Udell: I wonder about this a lot, lately, when thinking about the differences between LAMP (Linux/Apache/MySQL/Perl|Python|PHP) and .NET/COM+ or J2EE/EJB. Where's the inflection point between these two styles? When you harden an architecture for robust transactions, how do you preserve the fluidity that the agile enterprise requires?
It's pretty dry reading, but my belief is that the answer lies in here, though a much better place to start is in the introduction. The first implementations of this spec likely are going to focus on atomic transactions which work well when you control both ends of the wire, but the life doesn't work that way.
I'm not sure if LAMP or J2EE or dotNET, and hence WS-Transaction, which is a layer above this thirty year old architecture, will lead to a more agile enterprise.
I think we need a rethinking of databases, messages, and coordination. Some thoughts are at http://patricklogan.blogspot.com, but more will follow.