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JOhn Posasa wrote:
For every web, there's a frontend and a backend. Why is the backend being
overlooked? ...or am I misunderstanding a special meaning in "web
services"?
I work for a web. We have a HUGE backend. That's where the opportunities
are....in general, not with us...we're in a hiring freeze. <end quote?
When I suggested XML and web services, I assumed readers would realize I was
suggesting that the real work in web services will be the corporate
documentation that needs to interface with it. All the gee whiz technical
gadgetry and technology in the world does little good when all the corporate
information is in hard copy. If my company adopts the web services model
tomorrow, the amount of work necessary to enable that transition is
monumental, and has little or nothing to do with documenting the web
services as such. That area--translating existing documentation, both hard
copy and soft copy--will provide tons of work for technical writers and
technical editors in the next couple of years.
Both IBM and Microsoft are devoting huge amounts of work (and money) to
convince everyone that web services are the way and the light. For
organizations to actually benefit from web services, a lot of work needs to
be done in translation. Hence, my suggestion for the new tech writer to
learn XML.
I agree completely that it is the programming side of XML that is useful,
and that "knowing XML" goes way beyond understanding the basic concepts.
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