"Ajax software is delivered using the entire Web as a platform" It's the main feature of Web 2.0, many of modern internet writers think a lot about AJAX and it's nearly equal for them the term Web 2.0. This things are not the same. It's good article, but in many cases i'll better use Web2.0 instead of AJAX (it's only Asynchronous Javascript and XML over HTTP, not more).

With best regards, Ivan Spark.

Russian web 2.0 community

Some of it applies for RIAs in general, not only Ajax.

Best,

-Rob

However, some of the above i not 10)% correct. Ajax doesn't always deliver seamless upgrades. Pretty much any web application, regardless of its use of Ajax, provides that, because the bulk of functionality lives in some data center somewhere. Also, some purely client applications also have seamless upgrades - Azureus (popular BitTorrent client), for instance, does this REALLY well.

Availability of data everywhere - again, this is not really due to Ajax, as is due to the open APIs that let outsiders programmatically pull data out of a service. Here is an example API. Those who use an API like this may use Ajax in the UI later, but don't have to use it, and your data will still be available anywhere you go.

Ah, I see now that your list is actually a list of Ajax _influences_, which then makes the list right! :)

I certainly realize you can get varying degrees of these benefits with other Ajax-like technologies. And I glad commenters are making that point extra clear.

But Ajax provides these capabilities in a special way that most (and probably all) of the others cannot.

1) Ajax requires no extra software, plug-ins, or support for "special" standards. As long as you have Javascript, CSS, DHTML, and XmlHttpRequest you are ready to go. This makes the OS and even browser a matter of only minor concern for the developer. And it lets Ajax be the most pervasive, most available, most portable solution.

2) Yes, APIs and software as a service existed long before Ajax, but again, what's special about Ajax is that it channels software creators down the right path from the beginning. For example, you MUST have an API to provide an Ajax app (private or not), and you can put highly-portable, always up-to-date code either on the server or the client. This partitioning wasn't desirable except for relatively unpopular solutions like Java Applets, until Ajax came along with a solution that requires nothing extra and relatively tiny, tight code.

I'm actually not arguing against any of these points because they are correct. I just wanted to clarify that I think Ajax has the greatest potential of all existing techniques for delivering these advantages.

Thanks much for reading and taking the time to comment.

Best,

Dion

All the points you've mentioned are about web applications in general, not Ajax :)

Security patches & Updates: each time you load the URL, you're always getting the latest version .... Yeah sure ... because someone is updating the server side scripts like with any other software, surely not because Ajax allow the software to autopatch itself.

Your choise of "disruptive" implies that the old way of doing things is going to go away. I can think of several applications on my computer that I do not want to "grow up" or become web services (Calculator and Photoshop for example).

Yes, I would definitely state that the GET/POSTs back to the server from the browser, as long as they are data-based and not presentation based (i.e. not HTML), absolutely represent the application programming interface (API) of the Ajax application.

Interestingly, whether that API public or private actually may not make a real difference since folks will reverse engineer the good ones. In other words, if you use Ajax, you tend to have a public API whether you like it or not.

I agree with you however that lots of Ajax applications don't use XML, nor should they. In my recent open service models article, I stated that JSON, REST, RSS are likely candidates but there are many others.

And thanks much for stopping by, I do appreciate your time.

Best,

Dion

JSON using javascript on-demand on the other hand doesn't have the same cross domain issues.

Example: I created a batch geocoding service using JSON and Yahoo's new JSON output compatible REST geocoding service. The requests to Yahoo's service come straight from the end-user's web browser, so the 50,000 geocode per IP limit can be applied at client's IP. I think its a pretty cool example of things to come: http://www.batchgeocode.com

Cheers! -Phillip

i often see a lot of ppl misunderstand the whole concept of the web 2.0 they either fall towards the CSS Layout or the AJAX and use that to define web 2.0. Personally, i think web 2.0 is like a concept. A new way of web dev using existing tools. Really, CSS Layout has been around for years, AJAX, heck, that's been around since the first time iframe, javascript and server-side script worked together. Now days, we have XMLHttpRequest, but the truth is, this has been around for years also, just nobody really paid too much attention to it. Until Google's Gmail, MSN Space, and other big sites start re-exploring these tools, we start turning heads and say, hey that's pretty cool. The tools aren't new, they are just be re-explored.

The way i like to look at AJAX is thinking of it as a simple concept. How to apply this concept into applications is really what ppl should focus on.

Small note: Delicious does use Ajax for tagging (h ttp://ajaxian.com/archives/showcase-delicious-sugg est). Hardly a killer app for them, but nice to know there's some Ajax even in Delicious :->.

Regarding upgrades and patches, the situation is not as clear cut as you're presenting it. First, the browser needs increasingly many upgrades and patches. Second, you have many "rich clients" that are becoming smarter about updating themselves silently.

There is a another issue which you haven't discussed: privacy and lock-in. Web applications are one step further than desktop apps when it comes to these.

What I mean is that Ajax applications are the first Web software that truly feels like the software we already have, yet live directly from the Web but require no new technology.

I agree it's a subtle difference and in the end Web 2.0 techniques like Ajax are synergistic effects; a whole that is significantly greater than the parts.

Finally, Julien, your comments are right on but I would suggest this is a new wave of disruption. If you're not sure about this, recall Ra y Ozzie's disruption memo from last year. The big guys are feeling it as a new force and responding. Directly because of this, Ajax is one of the harbringers of this new disruption.

You are also spot on about privacy and lock-in. This is something I've written about previously. There will be a backlash this year if there is a major outage of Web 2.0 software or if a big vendor goes under. If this happens, provider switching and open data formats will come to the forefront, as it should.

Finally, I appreciate all the comments, please keep them coming!

Best,

Dion

Interestingly I was thinking of opening up the framework and solicited feedback on that course of action. I've gotten almost none. The things you list seemed obvious to me, but I think I may be 'too close' to it. I don't think people really realize how important the dynamic web application really is.

On a related note I think the current generation of high reliance on "web effects" and radical user interfaces will pass. The "every application is completely different" reminds me of the DOS days of GUI programming. Xerox Parc, Apple, and Microsoft standardized the interface that we've all internalized over the years, and the current "press the glossy bubble with eyes to launch the application!" seems like a giant step backwards in terms of usability.

I've been a bit discouraged by the lack of feedback on my work but I still believe in my framework and think it's the wave of the future for Ajax style applications.

Now granted I would have had to perform a post-back (please, don't panic) and had my screen "refresh", if one can bear to imagine that. I think AJAX is a very cool thing that improves UE somewhat and may introduce new types of applications in the future, but don't see much more than hype today. Google Maps needs AJAX but most of today's applications simply do not.

http://www.meebo.com/

http://www.meebo.com/