More on non-standard RPC protocols - Cisco Etch

I came across this old bit of news - In May, Cisco joined the ranks of vendors that want to introduce a house-brand protocol and description in lieu of the standard ones already available in things like REST, SOAP, and WSDL.  Going by the name of Etch, this new thing from Cisco is supposed to solve the problems the networking vendor has with SOAP.  They say it's simpler, and oh, gee, look, it has that old famiilar RPC feel....

I have previously weighed in on such ideas, and not favorably either.

It seems I have good company - Steve Vinoski is of similar mind, at least with regard to Cisco's Etch.

Toss Etch on the pile with Hessian, ZeroC ICE, Thrift, Protocol Buffers, and the rest of the "I-need-a-new-protocol-cause-SOAP-is-so-bad" lot.