Hot Topic for Web Developers: Ajax and Remote Scripting / Abner Germanow, Christian A. Christiansen, Melissa Webster

There is tremendous excitement today about Web 2.0, and the potential for a new generation of rich Internet applications — Web-based applications whose dynamic, interactive nature transcends current expectations for the Web. This is driving interest in techniques such as remote scripting — witness the current buzz around Ajax. This IDC study discusses Ajax and the larger class of remote scripting techniques to which it belongs and assesses the potential impact on the Web and on Web applications. "Ajax isn't a technology so much as a technique, and it's not a new technique," says Melissa Webster, program director, Content Technologies. "Although Ajax represents a dramatic functional leap for the HTML platform, that platform still lags behind both desktop applications and Macromedia Flash in terms of interactive, dynamic capability. However, HTML/Ajax applications may have a competitive advantage due to more available expertise."