AJAX: Ready to take on the old guard?

Topics

Ajax, JavaScript, XML

ANALYSIS

...administration of business applications easier, as it provides a built-in mechanism for backing up data and sending out updates, proponents said.

Developers can also take advantage of XML and Web services standards to fetch information from back-end data sources. For software users, this means that information on a Web page, such a search result or RSS feed, can updated automatically and without a reload of the page.

For all its promise, widespread use of AJAX still faces some hurdles. The development tools for writing AJAX-style applications are not as sophisticated as for other programming languages, industry executives said. To address this, products designed to make AJAX programming simpler have been released by a few companies, including JackBe, ClearNova and Midnight Coders.

Microsoft's grip
Although the idea of a Web-based alternative to Microsoft Office may sound threatening to the software giant, the company's products are deeply entrenched, particularly in the corporate market. The training costs associated with replacing Office alone make switching away from it very unlikely, said Joe Drouin, global chief information officer at TRW Automotive.

"The Windows-Office platform has become second nature to people," Drouin said. "There would have to be an amazingly compelling business case to convince me to go out and retrain 24,000 people on an all-new desktop environment, an all-new office environment and an all-new way of working."

For corporations, Microsoft has also gone to significant lengths to bring the benefits of Web server-based administration to Windows on the PC. For example, one feature called ClickOnce which will be available later this year, lets administrators install Windows applications from a server.

Microsoft executives argue that the rich graphics capabilities of native Windows applications, including multimedia, will outshine Web-only editions.

"The new kind of applications ISVs can make [with Windows Vista] will be dramatically different from what's possible with the Web application model. I think it's clearly differentiated," said Greg Sullivan, group product manager in charge of the Windows Vista client in a recent interview.

Still, the arrival of Web-based applications with user interfaces as good as those in PC applications is a big change. The shift is big enough to make the Web browser, 10 years after its invention, more appealing as a way for people to work with software.

"The advent of AJAX has the ability to create a structural shift people didn't see coming," Meebo's Sternberg said. "The Web wasn't ever as functional or useful as client software, and AJAX just knocks that ball out of the park."

CNET News.com's Mike Ricciuti contributed to this report.

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John Molloy

Apple are currently pushing to get tv content on the iPad by April 3rd. This could possibly be seen as a spoiler for that announcement I suppose....

2 hours ago by John Molloy
Andrew Donoghue

Hey - presume you mean something that builds on Apple's existing TV device? Apple have already had a couple of runs at building Apple TV and it's...

7 hours ago by Andrew Donoghue on Google's TV timing may reveal more to come
BVE2011

Google, Sony, Intel may build TV project www.zdnet.co.uk/news/emerging-tech/2010/03/18/google-sony-intel-may-build-tv-project-40088359/

ator1940

70,0000 to 90,0000 computers? A very small number considering some of these botnets are in the millions, and there are so many of them operating,...

9 hours ago by ator1940 on Microsoft says it decimated Waledac botnet
ator1940

I agree Roger, and why can't they write secure code? What will happen when they find stolen code in windows? They have a track record of...

9 hours ago by ator1940 on Microsoft lashing out at Linux, open source
ator1940

Do you think it will really take days?

9 hours ago by ator1940 on Microsoft previews Internet Explorer 9 with HTML 5 support
neilfab

@evilmanic have you seen the new hp on zdnetuk

Xwindowsjunkie

Wonder how many days it will take before somebody codes an exploitive hack for IE9?

21 hours ago by Xwindowsjunkie on Microsoft previews Internet Explorer 9 with HTML 5 support
roger andre

There are some really good people in Microsoft and I wonder, how embarassing it must be for them to see how the organisation behaves from it's...

1 day ago by roger andre on Microsoft lashing out at Linux, open source
ajclarke

Great new look for ZDNET UK web-site http://bit.ly/9R5eAA to check it out @ZDNetUK #zdnet

feedfrog

Microsoft previews Internet Explorer 9 with HTML 5 support - zdnet.co.uk http://bit.ly/9FSh23

kencogold

We were just pondering on when IE will get HTML5 and CSS3 onboard! this is excellent

1 day ago by kencogold on Microsoft previews Internet Explorer 9 with HTML 5 support
riptari

RT @suziedaniels: relaunched www.zdnet.co.uk raises the bar yet again! its so fast it makes my eyes bleed.

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This is brilliant - I borrowed one and straight away saw that a few AP`s were set up to the wrong country. It gives interference levels on each...

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http://www.zdnet.co.uk/news/networking/2010/03/11/european-parliament-votes-down-acta-treaty-40085614/ (Where does this leave #Debill?)

suziedaniels

relaunched www.zdnet.co.uk raises the bar yet again! its so fast it makes my eyes bleed.

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Redesign complet pour ZDNet UK et AU, Twitter au centre http://www.zdnet.co.uk/ http://www.zdnet.com.au/

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