CNET reports that Sun has shifted from describing SOAP as "pure hype with no value" to "a good starting point for XML messaging."

While there has been an enormous amount of vitriolic debate surrounding SOAP, notably on the xml-dist-app@w3.org mailing list, CNET reports that IBM's involvement in SOAP may have helped buffer some of Sun's concerns.

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• IBM donates SOAP implementation to Apache
• SOAP 1.1 published, may be W3C Note