To x86: SOAP(Simple Ojbect Access Protocol) is a standard!
SOAP can used by distributed applications that working on intranet or internet through firewall of enterprise.
It was developed by MS and now supported by IBM etc.
SOAP using HTTP POST or M-POST method.
You can get the whole example about the SOAP client and server side demo in this book "VB6 XML Professional Technology", you can access the web site
"www.wrox.com" to get some info about this book.
to DeD: SOAP isn't MSFT standard, it've been submitted to W3C already.
Is it SOAP=http+xml, NO, SOAP= xml+ ...(http, smtp, or XXXP), so we can use SOAP not just through browser. IBM, developmentor all have SOAP project on not-MS platform, they implemented it using java and C.
In MSFT .NET, they have a new(i don't think so) concept, WebService. For using WebService, they implement some protocols, like SOAP, UDDI, DISCO.
In my opinion, MSFT have finished lots of working on .NET, including xml and soap.