The classic Strother Martin line from "Cool Hand Luke" might sum up analysts views as to why so few people outside Microsoft can understand what the software giant is talking about when it talks about service-oriented architecture (SOA).

Views differ as to whether Microsoft knows what it is doing with SOA, but doesn't know how to communicate it, or whether it doesn't really know what it is doing with SOA and is communicating what it doesn't know. A third view might be that Microsoft is making a hash of both SOA and its communications.

Analysts asked about Microsoft's SOA strategy for this article offered views in these three categories, although there are shades of gray. However, even the analysts who strongly support Microsoft's approach to SOA, see problems with the way the company explains its service-oriented strategy.