[link|http://www.perl.com/pub/a/2004/09/30/drop_the_soap.html|Don't be afraid to drop the SOAP] says it all, from the perspective of someone who loves XML.
Note, SOAP used to stand for Simple Object Access Protocol. It now stands for nothing because people couldn't stand the irony, seeing as how it isn't simple and no objects are involved.
Cheers,
Ben