Is SCA the Java world's response to Indigo?

It's often frustrating that Microsoft seems to want to do its own thing apart from everybody else, and set its own standards for service-oriented technology. But, then again, it's far better to have competition than everybody marching in lockstep. 

We've been watching the battles between Linux and Windows. Open source vs. commercial. C# vs. Java. .NET vs. Java Platform. ESB vs. BizTalk. Now, it's SCA vs. WCF -- but this is likely to be a much more friendly and productive rivalry.

A few weeks back, a group of vendors, including IBM and BEA, unleashed the Service Component Architecture (SCA) initiative, designed to simplify SOA development.

In his latest post, David Chappell speculates that SCA is the Java world's response to Microsoft's Indigo, now saddled with the less eye-catching name of Windows Communication Foundation (WCF).

There are many similarities between SCA and WCF, and a number of key differences, but Chappell says the evolution of both means one thing: service-oriented applications are the wave of the present and future.

"SCA has the potential to provide significant value in the Java world and beyond. If the vendors behind this new technology can complete the tasks they’ve set for themselves, we can look forward to a day when the two major foundations for creating service-oriented applications are SCA and WCF. As with .NET and J2EE today, healthy competition between two established camps is good for everybody."