WS-Transfer and WS-Enumeration were published today by Microsoft and our partners.  WS-Transfer basically defines a small set of verbs like are availalble in HTTP to GET, PUT, DELETE, etc.  WS-Enumeration is more self-explanatory.

I've been working on a talk about how ReliableMessaging constructs can apply nicely to the problem of transfering large, opaque data using multiple base64 encoded messages.

Then you inevitably ask yourself, "how about sending large, non-opaque (xml) data?"

As soon as you do this, you have to realize that you can't send partial XML elements -- mechanisms for doing this are an interesting form of mental masturbation.  But large arrays of data fit nicely into a brake-it-up mentality.  And this is exactly what WS-Enumeration covers.

For the rare plumbers out there, these specs are an interesting things to check out.  But I also think many of these specs are interesting because they match up with common problems Web service developers run into today.  And since the first production WS-Enumeration piece of plumbing is probably a ways away, it allows people to solve there problems based off a solution developed by some pretty smart minds who have thought long and hard on the problem space.

Enjoy,

   -Matt