RE: Too easy (was FW: [pushlet] Digest Number 246)

Joyce Park wrote:
> Let me get this ball rolling by mentioning a couple
> of types of tasks that I think we might be especially
> good for.

Joyce, to follow on and think aloud...I see three broad areas of problems
where mod_pubsub is applicable.

1. Integration
2. Cooperation/Coordination
3. Monitoring

Integration: making applications/services/components talk loosely. This is
the basic call to arms of any pub/sub infrastructure component. It seems in
this realm Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) tools and MQs are
referred to as heavyweight while Enterprise Service Buses (ESB) such as
SonicESB are called lightweight. This then makes mod_pubsub a featherweight.
Would it then make sense that mod_pubsub could also scale down to device
integration along the lines of a personal intranet of specialised devices
like for example Jim Gray's smart-drives - the storage-brick[1]. Munchins?
Upnp and GENA seem to be floating around in this arena.

Cooperation and Coordination: a kind-of social software but with a bit more
structure for goal-oriented business processes. Something like the issue
tracking application RoundUp[2] putting everything into the browser instead
of email.

Monitoring: covers the dashboard concept and notifications. It is about
bringing information together to give a snapshot of what is happening in a
particular domain. For example network monitoring, sales activity or
business operations - monitoring Key Performance Indicators. On a personal
level it is the changes to subscribed Weblogs, email inbox etc
(Dashboard...Mojito). Such "quick info views" need the integration
capability plus some form of component packaging.

Some benefits that mod_pubsub brings to the table simply because it is
featherweight and web integrated.

Flexible Architecture - By making the component connectors explicit
(addressable) the architecture can be re-wired dynamically. URLs are cheap.

Easy Process and Workflow Implementation: Lightweight implementation for
business processes, workflow and business rules. These business level
concepts seem to be a natural fit with technical concepts such as Resources,
Components, Explicit Naming, Open Data Formats, Pub/Sub and Application
Layer Routing.

Improved User Experience: Making the front-end web-browser more reactive and
enable deployment of XForms type functionality/business-logic without
client-side upgrades but working with them when available.

Reduced Total-Cost-Of-Ownership: basically "Zero-Install" for front-ends
with improved user experience. Thinking of that IT manager responsible for
1,000+ desktops. It is easier to update a few servers than install 1,000+
desktops with new software that may depend on an invisible fix conflated
into a service pack.

Real-Time Updates (soft real-time): Applications and Dashboards updated
without refresh.  Updated information as it happens; the current mod_pubsub
sales pitch.

Accessibility: It is a web citizen after all.

One thing that catches my interest is mod_pubsub as component integration
glue. A component being a bit of functionality that sits between two (or
more) topics. Topics are the virtual-end points in the architecture.
Components could be XSLT, JavaScript, Python, and Perl etc. Thru topics the
application architecture can be dynamically re-wired to inject new
functionality, load balance, slowly test new features etc. Application
Routing - REST, C2...ALIN.  Source routing [5] and applying this at an
application level appears to have merit: a routing resource describes topic
configurations that are used to dynamically configure an application
architecture and or business process on a one-to-one basis.

As a parting thought. Something like Roundup, where issue tracking is fussed
with Presence/IM and issue specific blogs, would provide a more concrete
demonstration of mod_pubsub while also providing a reference architecture.
I'm sure the concept of semi-permeable blogging and dashboards could also be
meaningfully introduced.

Nothing new, just a few thoughts.
Robert.

[1] Acm Queue - A Conversation with Jim Gray
    http://www.acmqueue.org/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=43
[2] Roundup Issue Tracker
    http://roundup.sourceforge.net/
[3] Source Routing for Campus-wide Internet Transport

http://web.mit.edu/Saltzer/www/publications/sourcerouting/SourceRouting.html






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