...Web-based architecture lets Zimbra combine email with other applications in novel ways, he said.
"The big thing is email-based mash-ups. The Web is becoming this platform for collaboration. Why should we isolate email?" Dietzen said.
Earlier this year, Google Maps, one of the first applications to make the benefits of AJAX development clear to a broad audience, emerged. The program enables people to use a mouse to move a map image around the screen.
Zimbra programmers have used the same techniques to make email clients and servers more interactive. The company's Web-based client provides dragging and dropping calendar items and searching for past emails — features typically found in desktop software such as Microsoft's Outlook and Lotus Notes.
In addition, the Web-based client uses XML to combine email with other applications. For example, a tie-in to the Google Maps Web service enables people to mark the location of a meeting with a Google Maps image inside the calendar application. There are also links to some packaged applications that could allow a sales person, for example, to click on a purchase order in an email and pull up the relevant information directly from Oracle Financials.
AJAX-style development allowed Meebo, a San Francisco-based start-up, to jump into the instant messaging market without compromising on features, co-founder Sternberg said. The Web-based instant messaging client is expected to go into beta testing later this autumn, though an alpha is currently available.
Even Microsoft is showing interest in the development technique. The next version of its Hotmail service, code-named Kahuna and now in beta testing, relies heavily on Microsoft's AJAX tooling . The same goes for the next Yahoo Mail client, which went into limited beta testing earlier this month.
Because these emerging AJAX-style applications are Web-based, they can be hosted outside a company network. They can also run on any operating system rather than just on Windows, analysts said.
On top of being cross-platform, Web applications can be accessed from multiple locations and from handheld devices or PCs. In addition, the Web approach could make...
For more, click here...
