This is a post that I've been meaning to write anyway, but it's also in response to part of JJ's comment on an earlier post.
BPEL is not a programming language. Perhaps more to the point, BPEL is not an application programming language, i.e., BPEL can't be used to write an application. Instead, a BPEL engine is a point solution to the challenges of service orchestration in the same way that a database is a point solution to the challenges of data management. The statement that "SQL is not an application programming language" is analogous.
This summarizes my expectations of and aspirations for BPEL. BPEL holds promise for reducing the software engineering cost and complexity of building applications with services. BPEL will be a substantial part of B2B applications, integration applications, and all manner of other software engineering endeavors, but it's only a part of the overall picture.
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