AJAX: the technology behind Googlemaps/Gmail

[Mr. Analog]

I wish they didn't call it "technology" and called it "methodology" instead

[Darren Dirt]

What's really sad is, because the "AJAX" label is propagating so fast, a lot of ignoramuses (ignorami?) are describing rich DHTML pages/sites/apps as "AJAX" even when there is no XMLHTTP calls to the server... I guess "DHTML" isn't as sexy as the name of a cleaning abrasive  :roll:

[Darren Dirt]

Another news article, 04Oct2005, about how more and more companies are realizing this is the future of web services, especially because of its future flexibility...



http://beta.news.com.com/AJAX+gives+software+a+fresh+look/2100-1007_3-5886709.html

Story last modified Tue Oct 04 10:31:00 PDT 2005









An emerging Web development technique promises to shake up the status quo in PC software and blur the line between desktop and Web applications.

Over the years, desktop applications tied to a specific operating system have become entrenched as the main way to work on a computer. AJAX, a set of development techniques standardized over the past eight years, could change all that by bringing more sophisticated interfaces to Web applications. With that, backers are hoping it can open a crack in the dominance of desktop software like Microsoft's Office, the undisputed market leader.



"This is a space that's crying out for innovation," said Scott Dietzen, president of messaging start-up Zimbra. "At this point, there isn't a company that's up to challenging Microsoft. But we're out to change that."



News.context



What's new:

Messaging company Zimbra is one of several companies betting that AJAX-style Web development will shake up the PC software market.

Bottom line:

While the AJAX development technique is likely to blur the line between desktop and Web software, it's unlikely to displace Microsoft's dominance as the leading applications provider.



More stories on AJAX



On Tuesday, closely watched Zimbra outlined its business model and announced that it has secured $16 million in venture funding at the Web 2.0 conference in San Francisco. The San Mateo, Calif.-based company said it will launch its e-mail server software as a free open-source edition next month. Customers can pay a yearly subscription fee for updates and support, and a higher-end version will be available for a price.



Zimbra is one of a growing number of companies that are betting that AJAX, which stands for Asynchronous JavaScript + XML, will turn out to be more than just a catchy abbreviation. In the development style, programmers use a number of standards-based technologies, notably JavaScript and XML, to write applications. Many Web entrepreneurs and established software providers are hoping that AJAX can reinvigorate the PC software business by marrying the graphical user interface of desktop computers with the benefits of the Web.



Clearly, nobody expects AJAX-style applications--just now entering the market--to overtake Office anytime soon. Microsoft has long controlled more than 90 percent of the desktop software market, and the company's Information Worker unit, which includes Office and related tools, generated more than $11 billion in revenue--more than one quarter of Microsoft's total revenue in fiscal year 2005, according to the company.



But companies like Zimbra are paving the way for others to enter a market long thought to be stagnant.



"My sense is that we're just seeing the tip of the iceberg when it comes to browser-based applications," Dan Grossman, venture capitalist at Venrock Associates wrote in a recent blog posting. "There are many more on the way, and we'll be increasingly amazed with what can be done," he noted.



Several smaller companies are in the early stages of building AJAX-style applications that are Web-based alternatives to many PC mainstays, potentially luring away Microsoft customers. Examples include project management application Basecamp and an online calendar program now in beta from CalendarHub.



"We're just seeing the tip of the iceberg when it comes to browser-based applications."

--Dan Grossman, venture capitalistAt the moment, Web pages are limited, compared with most desktop applications. AJAX frees Web pages from the clunkiness they suffer from by making them more interactive and so more functional, Web developers say.



Using AJAX, developers can create an interactive user interface that's comparable to what's available on desktop applications. For example, Microsoft Outlook users take for granted that they can drag an e-mail message into a folder, but that's not possible right now with Web-based e-mail clients like MSN Hotmail. With Ajax applications, users can move items such as windows and buttons around a Web page--much as they do with programs linked to Windows or Mac OS.



"Without AJAX, we couldn't have created a user experience that was good enough," said Seth Sternberg, co-founder of Meebo.com , a three-person start-up that provides Web-based instant messaging.



Smaller software makers such as ThinkFree and Writely could eventually create the hosted Web equivalent of Microsoft Office, analyst and writer Richard MacManus noted recently.



Mashing up e-mail

Dietzen said a Web-based architecture provides benefits to IT administrators, namely a common security system and simplified management. Perhaps more significantly, the Web-based architecture lets Zimbra combine e-mail with other applications in novel ways, he said.



"The big thing is e-mail-based 'mash-ups.' The Web is becoming this platform for collaboration. Why should we isolate e-mail?" 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 e-mail clients and servers more interactive. The company's Web-based client provides dragging and dropping calendar items and searching for past e-mails--features typically found in desktop software such as Microsoft's Outlook and Lotus Notes.



In addition, the Web-based client uses XML to combine e-mail 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 e-mail 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 fall.



"The Windows-Office platform has become second nature to people."

--Joe Drouin, global CIO, TRW AutomotiveEven 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 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.













Previous Next "The new kind of applications ISVs (independent software vendors) 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."

[Shayne]

From an experianced standpoint.  Users like the "Save" button, users like the "Next Page" button, and most of all, users like the "forward" and "back" buttons on their browser.



AJAX tends to eliminate most of these, though while they can be avoided in many cases, the extra work for what could easily be solved with no added presure in a page refresh.



Its got its great sides, but its not the be all end all, uber future of the interweb.

[Darren Dirt]

From an experianced standpoint.  Users like the "Save" button, users like the "Next Page" button, and most of all, users like the "forward" and "back" buttons on their browser.



AJAX tends to eliminate most of these, though while they can be avoided in many cases, the extra work for what could easily be solved with no added presure in a page refresh.



Its got its great sides, but its not the be all end all, uber future of the interweb.

Quoted for posterity -- I'm guessing less than 12 months before some word-hitting takes place



Bah, we shall see -- whatever pays da bills, eh

[Shayne]

Mark my words, in 12 months, the general internet will be no different then as it is today.  While sure im willing to bet a few nifty websites using all the latest stuff appear, the general internet website will remain the same as it has for the last uncountable years.



What i think AJAX will really help with, is website administration.  The stuff you and I dont see, thats where it has its potential to shine.

[Darren Dirt]

What i think AJAX will really help with, is website administration.  The stuff you and I dont see, thats where it has its potential to shine.

But it right now is not essentially the same as it was 12 months ago. 2004/2005 unveiled a lot of handy web apps and even suites of apps that moved more towards a thin web client, with many relying on AJAX or REST type of communication architecture (i.e. methodology, not technology, eh Mr. A?)



(sarcasm)But I'm sure Google has produced and released to great acclaim Gmail/Suggest/Maps just in order to improve their website administration.(/sarcasm)

[Darren Dirt]

Microsoft gets hip to AJAX



http://news.com.com/Microsoft+gets+hip+to+AJAX/2100-1007_3-5765197.html

Not to be left out of any development trends, Microsoft is working to simplify the job of building so-called AJAX applications, or Web applications with sophisticated graphics.



The company is building software, code-named Atlas, that provides developers with tools designed to ease creation of AJAX-style applications. An early version of the software will be made available to developers at the company's Professional Developers Conference in Los Angeles in September.

[Darren Dirt]

Web 2.0 - 5 reasons why it matters ("another pointless buzzword-compliant article" -- v3xt0r (799856) on Friday December 09, @02:32PM )





But at least from there, I found this interesting (useful) link: Paul Graham's definition of "Web 2.0"



My summary of his 3 points/rules/attributes:

creativity + competency + consideration



"AJAX" (i.e. methodologies and approaches, etc.) + "Democracy" (i.e. meritocracy, not credential-ocracy) + "Don't maltreat users" (i.e. DUH!)

[Shayne]

DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMED.  AJAX is austrailian for DEVIL!

[Darren Dirt]

DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMED.  AJAX is austrailian for DEVIL!

*cough*deadhorse*cough*



In Mr. Graham's article (less Ajax-loving than Shayne seems to have presumed I was referencing :roll: ) there is a simple principle mentioned, about how "the next big thing" doesn't need to be labelled as such by PR firms, cuz teh h@x0r5 will be on board already all on their own...



Well, um, how can I put this...



Google recently released an official API for Google Maps. Why?



Cuz so many independent, just-for-fun devs were doing their OWN "hack". (e.g. http://www.busmonster.com -- which almost got me emailing ETS, no joke...)





-You might want to brush up on your Australian there, mate

[Mr. Analog]

Web-as-content and web-as-application are two distinct entities, we've been doing kludgy things to try to de-emphasize the web-as-content limitations on web-as-application for years now, first with Java and later with Flash and now  with the "AJAX" methodology.



Most of us here have dealt with the headaches as both the developers and users of the document-oriented architecture and this is what "Web 2.0" is all about, forking the 'net into two categories, content and application. The problem is migrating to "Web 2.0" requires a whole new set or protocols and client applicaitons that require significant buy-in from developers and users and sadly most people don't see any reason to change if things work "good enough" as they do now.



Getting buy-in for a new web model is going to be a hard sell.

[Darren Dirt]

Hard sell, buy in... Would Microsoft's support help? One of the /.ers even said their lack of support is why things aren't advancing.



Well, funny you should mention that ...  



Gates' May2005 invite to Ray Ozzie to hop aboard The Good Ship Redmond may be uncertain (publicly and officially, anyway) as to motive, but these leaked memos might help reduce speculation...



http://www.hypercamp.org/2005/11/09

[Mr. Analog]

What we're talking about is rewiring the web so it can handle client/server interaction without having to bend one woefully inadequate interaction model into doing the job. Adding form controls to documents was the single most boneheaded move in the history of the net, we need to fix this.



If Microsoft and Sun had played nice back in the 90s this may have been an easier problem to solve since Java applications would have been available to any computer that had JRE running with little to no fuss but thanks to pigheadedness on both sides of that battle we're right back where we were a decade ago: "HTML forms suck, how do we fix them?".

[Shayne]

Do HTML forms really suck?  Most that I use work very well for what i need them to do, how else should a person pay a bill in online banking besides entering the amount into a box and the bill type from a drop down?



AJAX has a place, in the "application" aspect.  On a website where im searching for information and or buying items, the last thing i need is to have the browser become useless because a developer thought we should have a refreshless un-traditional-navigatable website.



Why are we trying to make the www more then it is?