Arising from a chat with Chris, we should have the "Open Standards vs Commercially Backed De-facto Specifications" 
debate some time. Not that we would  reach a consensus, but just so we all know where each other stand and what the 
issues really are.

This way sparked by the publication of the WS-ResourceTransfer specification, which as many of you know is simply the 
most recent instalment in the stateful web serives saga. 

http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/webservices/library/specification/ws-wsrt/