Microsoft Corp. published on its Web site Wednesday an updated version (1.1) of its Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP). Microsoft also announced that IBM Corp. and Lotus Development Corp. have thrown their support behind SOAP. The protocol uses XML to provide a common messaging format to link together any applications and services on the Internet. The original SOAP spec was developed by Microsoft, Userland Software Inc. and DevelopMentor. IBM's support is somewhat surprising, given that IBM officials have stated publicly that they are concerned that Microsoft is not adhering to pure XML standards in some of its products. -- Mary Jo Foley, ZDNet News
