Service-oriented architecture - a collaborative curse?

By breaking down business software applications into separate functions, service-oriented architecture (SOA) allows companies to group them interchangeably like Legos to create new capabilities and avoid redundancies. It also allows the services to run anywhere on anyone's computer. While this is obviously a great step in the right direction of simplifying the complex web of difficult-to-use software systems currently bogging down companies, it also raises concerns about how companies will be able to differentiate and obtain competitive advantage. Because the technology is so "open" and based on standards, it is very easy to copy. It brings up one of the main difficulties with openness - it keeps you from being "special." While the positives likely outweigh the benefits, it is interesting to note that it is getting harder and harder to deliver unique value as new collaborative technology evens the playing field.

So this could be bad news for companies trying to maintain an advantage; it could be good and bad for the rest of us. Good because the collaboration and openness is likely to raise the standard of living for everyone, but perhaps bad too, if at some point we will have broken down every process and piece of information in the world into a discrete, commoditized process. Then we'll all go around spitting out generic bits of information devoid of creativity or originality and we'll be like the automatons in the movie Wall-E that float around without having to think or do anything because we've so thoroughly solved all the complexity in the world and have made life "easy."