This was the panel discussion you were waiting for!  We've always wanted to have a moderated discussion between proponents from the two major providers of distributed computing software infrastructure.  The planets finally lined up and we got commitments from top industry representatives with excellent -- and amazingly similar -- backgrounds.  If you have any doubt, please use Google and search on their names, but stand back... the extensive results list will blow you away.

Last night's meeting was very lively, with as much agreement as good-natured disagreement on the state of web services and the best approaches to using this technology in a practical way.  Representing Java, we invited Anne Thomas Manes who has been very well received at COOUG in two prior appearances.  Representing Microsoft, we invited Dino Chiesa (pictured below) who was also well received in his past November meeting at COOUG. Dino was slightly delayed in arriving, so Larry Gregory (pictured above left), also with Microsoft, and also a former speaker at COOUG, ably handled the initial questions and responses to Anne.  COOUG president, Carl Miller, was the moderator, and Susan Burk, COOUG advisor and meeting organizer, was timekeeper.  Carl started with prepared questions from the COOUG Board, followed by a prepared "provocative" question from each panelist to the other.  In the last half hour the audience was able to ask questions of the panel.

Web Services can be described as a platform-neutral, language-neutral architecture that employs three potentially independent players: the service broker, the service provider, and the service requester. It is a very loosely coupled model where components can use XML messaging and SOAP to talk to each other. Dynamic discovery technology can allow binding at execution time or deployment time, as opposed to development time. So it allows you to create just-in-time applications, just-in-time integration.

Anne Thomas Manes, Chief Technology Officer Systinet
(Formerly Director of Market Innovation, Sun)
See her COOUG meeting review

Before joining Systinet, Anne Thomas Manes was Director of Market Innovation at Sun Microsystems where she architected the Sun ONE campaign. Before joining Sun, Anne was a senior analyst with the Patricia Seybold Group, and editor-in-chief of "Distributed Computing Monitor", a monthly newsletter. Anne developed her expertise working in field service, education, system administration, development, product management, and technical evangelism at Open Environment Corp, Digital Equipment Corp, Cullinet and IBM.

Dino Chiesa, Product Manager .NET Microsoft
(.NET Enterprise Solutions Group)
See his COOUG meeting review

Dino Chiesa is a Strategist for Microsoft's .NET Enterprise Solutions Group. Dino has 15 years of experience in the software industry, primarily in server application development and distributed application architecture. Prior to coming to Microsoft, Dino worked for 8 years with IBM and Transarc as a consultant in the distributed middleware and application and transaction servers group, focusing on a variety of technologies including CORBA, DCE, distributed message queueing, CICS, enterprise Java, high-volume distributed transactional environments, and distributed security. 

Larry Gregory, Principal Technology Specialist Microsoft
(E-Commerce Solutions Group)
See his COOUG meeting review

Larry Gregory is a Principal Technology Specialist in Microsoft's E-Commerce Solutions Group. He started with Microsoft in 1991 and has been focused on e-commerce technologies since 1996 including Merchant Server, Microsoft Commercial Internet System 1.0, Site Server 2.0 Enterprise Edition, Site Server 3.0 Commerce Edition, and the current generation Commerce Server 2000 and BizTalk Server 2000 products. Prior to Microsoft, Larry worked with Andersen Consulting performing process improvement studies and technology assessments, including early LAN, WAN, and graphical UI design work. Larry holds B.S. and M.B.A. degrees from the University of Connecticut and is a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer.

Door Prize Bonanza. We gave out more that sixteen books as door prizes, courtesy Addison Wesley, Systinet, and the Microsoft .NET Developers SIG.