We also have a simple publish/subscribe messaging model that handles both local (within the client application) and remote (Ajax) messages (also integrated with our IDE).

Of course, our implementation is not a standard, but it does attempt to address the some of the problems mentioned above.

But about the tech; OpenAjax (or something like it) is really important. I especially like the ambition to create a standard Widget format, and for the focus on modularization. All the things done to ensure simplification for IDE’s will also make it easier for anyone to consume and manage services in general.

Cheers,
PS

The biggest problems:
1) Most developers do not even know what ‘OpenAjax’ is
2) There are NO jobs for “openAjax’ – Go over to favorite job search and see for yourself (I would suggest Indeed.Com)
3) The alliance still seems to cater to corporations instead of developers as a whole
4) Jon Ferraiolo STILL has NOT followed through with a simple promise when I donated the domain – he does not seem to appreciate the contribution or understand Open Source attribution .