Trouble is, there are too many ways to go about the topic.
The first version I wrote was a technical introduction to SOAP laced with references to some of the important ongoing debates on XML protocols and XML distributed computing. Things moved forward, but as the group tried to involve wider circles, at Microsoft politics stepped in and the process stalled. Some XML-focused folks at Microsoft believed the SOAP idea was good but had come too early. Frustrated by the deadlock, UserLand went public with a cut of the spec published as XML-RPC in the summer of 1998. Java and Java-based marks are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the United States and other countries.