What is SOA all about?

Do you think SOA is about software development? Do you think SOA is about making two systems communicate?

I don't!

I think SOA is about abstraction. I think SOA is about specifying needs and capabilities. SOA is about dividing your domain into smaller parts and being able to outsource it.

This can be applied to software or any other domain where you have parts communicating. I think it is great for structuring organisations. SOA is great for figuring out who needs to talk to who and why.

What I'm trying to say is that I don't think SOA is limited to software. Every time I hear people specifying resources they need and afterward seeking resources matching their needs, I think SOA..

Sometimes I hear about SOA as being bad for performance or that it doesn't scale well. I don't think SOA is about performance, it is about specifying needs and secondly fulfilling them.