XML.com: Web Disservices: Microsoft's Misstep

XML.com: Web Disservices: Microsoft's Misstep "Microsoft recently announced Microsoft.com Web Services, through which developers can get programmatic access to Microsoft.com services. Microsoft has big plans to expand the program to include querying MSDN, MS Technet, and MS Support sites. For now, however, the only service available is getting information on top downloads from Microsoft.com. But this is enough to get a taste of the architecture and for us to dig in and see how it might be improved.
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To sum up: Microsoft has implemented a set of standards-based web services in such a way that ignores most of the benefits of the Web and has made it as easy as possible with its own tools and as difficult as possible without them."