I just noticed this result from the 2007 DMTF member survey (taken a year ago, but as far as I can tell just released now). When asked what their “most important interoperability priority” is, members made it pretty clear that they want the current CIM/WBEM infrastructure fixed and polished. They seem a lot less interested in these fancy new SOAP-based protocols and even less in using any other model than CIM.
It will be interesting to see what this means for new DMTF activities, such as CMDBf or WS-RC, that are supposed to be model-neutral. A few possibilities:
- the priorities of the members change over time to make room for these considerations
- turn-over (or increase) in membership brings in members with a different perspective
- the model-neutral activities slowly get more and more CIM-influenced
- rejection by the DMTF auto-immune system
My guess is that the DMTF leadership is hoping for #1 and/or #2 while the current “base” (to borrow from the US election-season language) wouldn’t mind #3 or #4. I am expecting some mix of #2 and #3.
Pushing the analogy with current US political events further than is reasonable, one can see a correspondence with the Republican primary:
- CIM/WBEM is Huckabe, favored by the base
- CMDBf/WS-RC/WS-Management etc is Romney, the choice of the party leadership
- At the end, some RDF and HTTP-based integration-friendly approach comes from behind and takes the prize (McCain)
Then you still have to win the general election (i.e. industry adoption of whatever the DMTF cooks up).
[UPDATED 2008/2/7: the day after I write this entry, Romney quits the race. Bad omen for CMDBf and WS-RC? ;-) ]