ZDNetIndia.com: Why Web services will be the Next Big Thing
Web services establish a method of standardizing communication, making it easier for applications and devices to share information back and forth across the Internet. Web services use some standards that already exist, a bunch that half exist, and still more that are yet to be created. So when you see semi-familiar and unfamiliar terms and acronyms like UDDI, XML, SOAP, and the rest of the Web services lexicon, don't feel stupid.