TL;DR; Assessment of Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) for enterprise web services, focusing on security, compatibility, and benefits over previous .NET frameworks.
I am currently evaluating WCF for my company. Now, ML has some pretty strong polocies on beta software, but they seam to be missing something with WinFX. I can find information on the company intranet on Vista and Office 2007, I can even request them to be installed on my desktop as part of an internal beta program, but nothing on WinFX or WCF!
I think that they are considering it as less of .NET Framework 3.0 and more of .Net Framework 2.5, rather like the 1.1 release. Yes, the features that they are providing are amazing, and posibly revolutionary as they are leading the way for other development enviroments that need to rely on third party software for the tasks that can be acomplished by WinFX.
Having read the white paper The Future of ASP.NET Web Services in the Context of the Windows Communication Foundation and may others, I am in agreement with Craig McMurtry that WCF represents a gient leap in consistancy and security.
I will be recommending to my company that any future web service projects be done in WCF, with the ability of older clients to communicate in a basic means, and with the benefits of security, cross-service transactions and token authentication I think that this new technology will serve any company well.
If you've made it this far, it's worth connecting with our principal consultant and coach, Martin Hinshelwood, for a 30-minute 'ask me anything' call.
We partner with businesses across diverse industries, including finance, insurance, healthcare, pharmaceuticals, technology, engineering, transportation, hospitality, entertainment, legal, government, and military sectors.
Epic Games
SuperControl
Freadom
Lockheed Martin
Bistech
Illumina
Sage
DFDS
Jack Links
Big Data for Humans
Emerson Process Management
Graham & Brown
Schlumberger
Qualco
Slaughter and May
ALS Life Sciences
Boxit Document Solutions
Teleplan
Washington Department of Transport
Washington Department of Enterprise Services
Nottingham County Council
Department of Work and Pensions (UK)
Royal Air Force
New Hampshire Supreme Court
Jack Links
Higher Education Statistics Agency
Teleplan
Trayport
Milliman
CR2