SOA fairy tales

Many in the industry, including readers that have posted here over the past year, say that the notion of SOA is a fairy tale. Well, RedMonk's James Governor does see fairy tales behind SOA.   

Consider this Grimm (or grim) tale provided by one of his readers: "Hansel and Gretel come across ...a small IT shop with a vendor at the doorway.  The whole house is a model for IT efficiency – all data is moving seamlessly between rooms and the users are happy.  A sign declares 'this efficiency is by the miracle of SOA and Web services.'"

But, this is where the story gets creepy...

"Inside lurks the big bad integrator. Thinking they were being saved by SOA, they now face soaring IT costs.  Starting with simple services, there are now countless consulting bills... Consultants walk around spewing out buzzword and acronym-laden sentences combined with updates on their hourly billing."

The only way they lived happily ever after was, well, obviously, to run away as fast as they can to avoid this horror. Thanks for sharing this with us, James.

Of course, Hansel and Gretel could have benefited enormously if they had cell phones and GPS tracking, but that's another story. 

James has also cited an analogy involving Goldilocks and the three bears. With SOA, you will find different-size bowls for different-size requirements.

I have my own "fairy tale" I would like to throw into the mix: about the vendor that had a goose (product) that laid golden eggs. One day, the vendor decided that the goose wasn't laying eggs fast enough, and thought by killing the goose they could get at what they thought was an unlimited supply of golden eggs. 

Any vendors come to mind with this analogy?