REST-style APIs are much easier to execute against inside JavaScript in a web browser compared to SOAP. RSS and ATOM are actually examples of REST-style APIs that have actually been integrating ...

SOAP versus REST was an inside-the-datacenter developers' debate, ... ProgrammableWeb's survey of 3,200 Web APIs For example, finds REST five times more prevalent than SOAP.

There are perceptions afoot of a Web services war pitting SOAP-based WS-* services against REST services. But an official at Microsoft, which has spearheaded development of WS-* specifications ...