The Open Mashup Alliance and EMML: Why It Matters to YOU

I hope by now you have heard the news.  Last week, the Open Mashup Alliance (OMA) was launched with prominent tech industry players such as Adobe, CapGemini, Hinchcliffe & Co., HP, Intel, JackBe, Kapow Technologies, Programmable Web, Synteractive, and Xignite.  

The OMA is 'dedicated to the successful use of Enterprise Mashup technologies and adoption of an open language that promotes Enterprise Mashup interoperability and portability'.  If you missed these, here are a few articles/blogs about the OMA that tell the story very well...

• Dion Hinchcliffe wrote a great piece called 'Creating a unified model for enterprise mashups'.  He clearly and eloquently explains the OMA, EMML and all the reasons why one should care.  Dion's post is a must-read in my opinion.
• Paul Krill at InfoWorld wrote a good recap about the OMA.
• John Waters at Application Development Trends covered the announcement, including some great quotes from Mike Ogrinz, the author of the book 'Mashup Patterns'.
• Joe McKendrick at ZDNet wrote a commentary about the OMA, pointing out 'lessons learned' about standards from previous emerging technologies.
• I blogged about the OMA and EMML to give a little background on EMML and how it was specifically designed to support enterprise mashup development.
• The announcement was also covered by the SD Times, NetworkWorld, Dr. Dobb’s, and ebizQ.

This is an important milestone for the enterprise mashup industry.  But the reason I am writing today is to talk about why the OMA and EMML matters to YOU. 

I know many of you have acquired a very special skill in learning EMML.  That skill certainly becomes more important as more enterprises adopt enterprise mashups.  And the work of the OMA will make your EMML skills even more valuable and useful.

As you might expect,  one of the most common questions I encounter when talking with developers or managers about EMML is this: "Is EMML proprietary? If so, are there any plans to make it open?".  In all our discussions and webinars and presentations, we have always said that we want to put EMML out 'in the open' at the right time.  A recent report estimated that the enterprise mashup market will increase tenfold over next five years.  That makes now the right time to give EMML to the community.

So JackBe has contributed EMML (language specification and a reference implementation) to the OMA and the OMA is now the official steward of EMML with full responsibility for its future.  And the result is very important: EMML no longer proprietary.  As a developer and a technology manager, openness and standards are extremely important to me. Professionally, open EMML makes the applications I build for my customers and co-workers less risky, more reliable, and more cost-effective.  Personally, open EMML makes my skills more valuable.   I am sure these kinds of things are important for you too. I doubt I need to convince you about the value of standards in an emerging industry such as enterprise mashups.  I am sure we all appreciate that standards improve the quality, portability and interoperability of any technology.  This is particularly true with an emerging technology like enterprise mashups.  As more vendors embrace EMML within their products, these benefits become even easier to achieve.

Finally, the OMA gives you a chance to get involved.  Membership in the OMA is open to all organizations or individuals with an interest in the advancement of EMML and Enterprise Mashup interoperability and compatibility.  As a mashup developer, the OMA gives you the opportunity to actively contribute to the evolution of the enterprise mashup industry and the future of EMML.  While continuing to being a member of MDC where we all enjoy the top notch enterprise mashup talented members and our technology, you might also want to know how you can participate in the OMA as well:

• You and/or your organization can join the OMA.  There are more membership details here.
• You can join the OMA Interest Google discussion group.
• You can follow the OMA on Twitter by @openmashup and #openmashup.

There is a lot more information about the OMA and EMML on the Open Mashup Alliance website, including the formal EMML 1.0 specification, a supporting reference runtime implementation, documentation, and some new EMML sample code.

I recommend you check it out, get involved, and share your thoughts.