Get On the Bus: Jargon Versus Reality

The latest example of syllables looking for meaning is ESB, or Enterprise Service Bus. When I hear this, I imagine some huge breadboard in the sky, floating over the building, with little wires running down to all the different applications. I know that's what I'm supposed to imagine, I'm the target audience.
But the reality is somewhat more complicated.
I'm not going to get into splitting hairs here -- whether is a central java repository, common messaging system, metadata-driven orchestration system, or a hunka hunka burning love, it's all a bunch of hooey. Marketing talk. Want the details? Check out this article.
Engineers hate marketers. Why, I don't know. Those are the guys who keep the money flowing, you would think it would be a love fest. Perhaps one of the reasons is when things like this happen. Look, between us and the fencepost, somebody has been doing a lot of market research and "discovered" that customer stuff don't connect together well. Is there an easy answer? No. Can we come up with a new sticker to put on our old products and pretend it will help? Absolutely.
Well, can these old products help? Sure. But so can re-architecting the entire system, using more web standards, writing common wrappers, starting over, moving to a common execution platform -- a LOT of stuff can help. Putting it in a neat box with a price tag and a marketing campaign does not a solution make.
Hey -- the advice here is free. Money back if not delighted.