Enterprise software

Roy Fielding (at 31:55):

The software industry is very susceptible to buzzword-based development – very susceptible to consultants who tell you what to do, and then you buy books on the subject and then you go implement it. And it’s important to continue doing that to some extent – to continue buying books on subjects that interest you and continue to listen to what all the various “industry experts” say. But keep in mind that a lot of those companies are interested in doing only one thing, and that’s selling you software. And it’s difficult sometimes to figure out how to sell a good architecture; it’s relatively easy to sell a bad one. Selling a bad one means you also have to spend a lot of time in development; you have to spend a lot of time with services; you have to spend a lot of time coming back to the same people and paying for more.

Not only does that describe the business model of the WS-* merchants, but of Oracle as well. And even if it’s not a new thought, it bears repeating and then repeating some more.