When is a webservice not a webservice?

Steve Rubel has come to the conclusion that the future of the web is in Web Services, not Web Sites.

This is an interesting statement given that Web Service systems, Software as a Service (SaaS), and the Software Oriented Architecture (SOA) crowd have all been going for at least 5 years. Even those johnny-come-lately Widget boyos have been around at least 2 years preaching this message.

Sadly, SOA etc etc is all boring back end stuff so no-one listens to them, and no-one really understands widgets anyway

No, the reason why the penny has dropped today of all days is because YouTube has opened up its API to allow people to suck video into their apps without YouTube branding, so its a clean transaction, and have thus apparently changed from being a Web site to a Web service,

Actually, by nearly any definition it was a service already, but now it will serve "clean" video as a white label service - ie YouTube is a wholesale, not retail service. In fact their press release says so.

With this release, YouTube is now providing wholesale access to our extensive video library, worldwide audience, and the underlying video hosting and streaming infrastructure that powers YouTube.

Update - TechCrunch sort of answers this - a webservice is not a webservice when its a platform

They go on to note that:

YouTube is not just white-labeling its video-hosting infrastructure for other sites, devices, and desktop applications. It is offering video-hosting for free. This could prove highly disruptive to other video-hosting platforms such as Brightcove, Maven Networks (now part of Yahoo), and Move Networks. Partners already using the APIs include Animoto, Casio, Electronic Arts, Helio, KickApps, Slide, and TiVo. Yes, you can now watch YouTube on TiVo.

Of course, it is not exactly free. The videos will also be available on YouTube, where Google will make money from any associated ads. It is not clear how the ad revenue will be split, or even if it will be. There is nothing in the API that allows for a Website to insert their own ads. So that is a big question mark.

Free and not free at the same time - actually, its just a revenue offset model. And of course, if its really white labelling the client website will insert its own ads on its own pages.