Deep Impact – AJAX

I-m in frequent conversations with top developers and experts. Recently, I was talking with Yong Tao Chen, MCDBA, MCSD.net, MCSE+I. He has worked for some of the largest companies in Canada and in the US as a senior consultant and brings an interesting perspective on the latest technologies or trends. I invited him to share his views and he provides his insights into AJAX. You will find this valuable since you read so much about it in the press. From Yong Tao:
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Deep Impact - AJAX

One of the hottest topics in the technical world is AJAX: the candidate that might take over the future of the web. With many early adopters such as Zimbra (https://www.zimbra.com/) that are betting on this new technology, the deep impact of AJAX might be beyond most people-s vision. This is another one of those rare occasions that the Microsoft and non-MS world unites and works together.

The AJAX.net framework (https://AJAX.schwarz-interactive.de/csharpsample/default.aspx) makes coding AJAX in .net extremely simple. What is the fundamental change? Those "page refreshing" and "post back" are no longer the case. A web page loaded in the browser can make its XML HTTP server calls directly without refreshing the page or even notify the user!

So, what is so significant? It removes the barrier between rich window apps and web apps. Web applications will be able to have a rich user experience like window users have, such as "drag and drop" in Outlook; secondly, web applications will be able to maintain its state on the web page like a rich client. MS Office Live: using your office online by paying a subscription fee is no longer far away. Further more, using the internet as the communication media, which is what web services is intended to accomplish, could be easy to implement under AJAX.

The game of AJAX has just began; the possibilities are just enormous. With more and more AJAX ready controls rolling out, it will be the standard of most of the web sites and web applications.
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Thank you YT for sharing your views on this technology,
Stephen Ibaraki