osid Open Service Interface Definitions (OSIDs) are programmatic interface specifications describing services. These interfaces are specified by the Open Knowledge Initiative (O.K.I.) to implement a Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) to achieve interoperability among applications across a varied base of underlying and changing technologies. To preserve the investment in development, program logic is separated from underlying technologies through the use of software interfaces each of which defines a contract between a service consumer and a service provider. This separation is the basis of any valid SOA. While some methods define the service interface boundary at a protocol or server level, OSIDs place the boundary at the application level to effectively insulate the consumer from protocols, server identities, and utility libraries that are in the domain to a service provider resulting in software which is easier to develop, longer lasting, and usable across a wider array of computing environments. (Excerpt from Wikipedia article: Open Service Interface Definitions (OSIDs)) 1 1 0.1 http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/sites/all/datacharts/hc/13706-chart-wp.html