What is the difference between web services and...

[shyam n]

...web applications?

[baby_wrestler]

The W3C defines a Web service[1] as a software system designed to support interoperable Machine to Machine interaction over a network. Web services are frequently just Web APIs that can be accessed over a network, such as the Internet, and executed on a remote system hosting the requested services.In software engineering, a Web application or webapp is an application that is accessed with a Web browser over a network such as the Internet or an intranet.Web applications are popular due to the ubiquity of the browser as a client, sometimes called a thin client. The ability to update and maintain Web applications without distributing and installing software on potentially thousands of client computers is a key reason for their popularity. Web applications are used to implement Webmail, online retail sales, online auctions, wikis, discussion boards, Weblogs, MMORPGs and many other functions.

[dick_bee_bad]

Definition:Web Services; It is what Microsoft is trying to get people to do with Office. Instead of owning the application wholly on a CD or other storage media. You would use it from their web site. Kind of like playing an on-line web game. You do not own the software but the game site would own the software.Web applications are like using PHP, SOAP, a MYSQL DATABASE that are built/Programmed into the page for a single purpose.