SOAP 1.1, the focus of this chapter, is the XML protocol used in J2EE 1.4 Web Services because it's well supported and fairly well understood. The BP has done a lot to clear up ambiguities in SOAP 1.1, and the SOAP 1.2 protocol also includes these clarifications. It seems likely that SOAP 1.2 will supplant SOAP 1.1, but I wouldn't expect that development to occur for a while yet. Usually it takes a new version of a protocol a couple of years to replace the earlier version—in some cases longer.
I'm pretty sure that the WS-I will have updated the BP to support SOAP 1.2 by the time the next version of J2EE, tentatively labeled J2EE 1.5, is released, and thus that J2EE 1.5 Web Services will support SOAP 1.2. Until that day, though, jumping on the SOAP 1.2 bandwagon is a risk. Interoperability depends on common understanding of the protocol and a lack of ambiguity. It will be a while before we know where SOAP 1.2's bugs lie and have a BP to address them. For now, save yourself some headaches and stick with SOAP 1.1 and the BP.