Need to understanding when to use Web Services?

[Jean Miles]

I am trying to understand when to use Web Services? I would like to know
what problems does 'using web services' solve.

[Lasse Koskela]

"Which technology should we expose our service with when we have no idea who's gonna be using it?"

[JeanLouis Marechaux]

and...
"How to have 2 in-house applications developped in different languages (say, C++ and Java, or Cobol and PowerBuilder, or .Net and Java) communicating with each other"

[Matt R. Hansen]

Lasse is right. When there may be different languages or technologies on the client side that need to use the same service. This is when we have a need for web services.

[Lasse Koskela]

Yet another:
"How to communicate between two systems when the location of one of them is not known"

[Matt R. Hansen]

Jean is right as well. His post outraced my own.

[JeanLouis Marechaux]

And another..
"the technology you have to use because your manager have read in an IT magazine this is the cutting-edge choice, and it will be cheaper, faster, better than any other one..."

Originally posted by Matt R. Hansen:
Jean is right as well. His post outraced my own.

BTW, my real first name is "Jean-Louis".
That's a bit long to right, but that's my name, I'm sorry
(For any reclamation, please contact my parents)

[Matt R. Hansen]

My apologies Jean-Louis.

BTW, my real first name is "Jean-Louis".

[somkiat puisungnoen]

I think that why use web service to solve problem ...
1. Use in communication between application (Need standard to communicate)
2. Use in communication between language (Java, C++, C#, Delphi ...) because CORBA is not standard in all programming language. (Use web service to solve because it communicate with text (XML, SOAP))
3. Web service is standard.
All guy , think that?

[Paul Monday]

One of the best ways that I found Web Services can be useful (and similar "XML-based protocol technologies like WBEM") is when your ability to predict the consumer of your functionality is hampered. There can be a lot of reasons for this:
a) your service is "opened" up to people beyond your control (like in another department, or branch of your enterprise...or even to the Internet (like Google and Amazon are finding useful))
b) you need an integrating technology between multiple stovepipe systems that were built at different times and with different languages and/or granularities of service
c) your service will exist "across time" (somewhat related to above...but forward looking as well...think about the languages that your company will be exposed to in the next 5-10 years, are you sure it will be Java or C# or RPG? Can you rely on XML being available? Former you can guess with some amount of accuracy, the latter you can guess with a high amount of accuracy...I hope.
Paul Monday