RSDP – Really Simple Database Protocol

O’Reilly Network: RSDP: A Really Simple Proposal
Most of what we use databases for, we can accomplish with XML-RPC and SQL. So why not define a simple XML-RPC interface (Really Simple Database Protocol, or RSDP), that allows applications to communicate with SQL databases without the need for troublesome external packages and middleware? People are already doing this with in-house projects, so all that is needed is for a couple of vendors to build simple XML-RPC front ends to existing systems.

Sounds like a good idea, but I can already accomplish something pretty close to this with PHP and XML-RPC, I don’t think I need another layer.