Planet PDF - PDF Collaboration In Action - WebDAV -- Adobe is leading the collaboration charge on WebDAV in much the same way that Userland/Dave Winer are doing so for SOAP and XML-RPC.

I've been struggling to define an architectural view that clarifies the complementary nature of WebDAV and SOAP/XML-RPC; both are promising collaboration platforms, each takes a different approach to collaboration.

There's no question that people and systems will continue to use and manage digital files in the traditional (e.g., file system-based) way that WebDAV supports, but these two technologies certainly begin to blur the lines, as both virtualize file location & movement in ways that previous network protocols & implementations have not.

We may ultimately find that WebDAV just provides the industry with a stepping stone to a more flexible "file-sharing" environment based on SOAP, but once adopted WebDAV may be difficult to unseat. I guess we just have to wait and see how the vendors deal with the eventual need to integrate these standards in a coherent and consistent way.