The way i look at it , HP did come up with the idea back then and didnt support SOAP or any standards
http://www.infoworld.com/articles/mt/xml/00/10/09/001009mteservice.xml As far the question about microsoft goes : M$ was into SOAP back in 98 !! :
http://www.develop.com/soap/soapfaq.htm#9 ( as to why it didnt support it actively is another issue )
SOAP support was then extended to espeak project .
The .Net draws flak at this article on SUN around the same time :
http://java.sun.com/features/2000/11/dot-net.html With respect to HP , they wanted to add CDL ( conversational description language on top of wsdl ? ) and was not part of the standards initiative , even when IBM and microsoft were initially proposing the standard .
With respect to the concept i do agree that HP was trying to create an industry off webservices :
http://platform.e-speak.net/platform-users/2000-06/msg00031.html ( still on my bookmark )
But to answer your point , espeak project would go down in history as the people who dared to show the business value to the world but who failed to capitalize on it .
The reason being the secured message delivery routing mechanism was part of the espeak strategy , how it came along is another story .
And I DO ACKNOWLEDGE their contribution and have always been quoting espeak for various reasons one being for the quote :
"He sought E-speak development responsibility and interprets the HP Lab management's reaction as, "He's going to do this, whether we want him to or not. Let's give him some rope. Either he'll deliver or he'll hang himself." He was given the rope.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2599771-7,00.html Notes to self :
http://javarecon.tripod.com/tech.html to prove that i do ack'ed espeak