i'm not sure that I agree that REST and SOAP are really in conflict. it may not be common, but there's no reason you couldn't use SOAP as a transport for REST-based services. the real conflict is between REST systems which may or may not use SOAP and RPC systems which may or may not use SOAP.
i do, however, agree that for most people, SOAP and RPC style services are pretty much synonymous.
REST is fine for trivial applications. Now try using it send a large HL7 V3 message. :-(
I just attended an SVJUG meeting where Mark Hansen explained REST web services.
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/svjug-announce/message/20...
According to him, REST services are suitable for building mashups where the client is a web browser and tight interface specifications aren't necessary. SOAP services are more suitable for EAI where you need high reliability and tight specification of interfaces. Makes sense.