Wired News: You Say You Want a Web Revolution

Wired News: You Say You Want a Web Revolution: "'For a user it is fundamentally different -- it feels like a real application,' said Rael Dornfest, chief technology officer for O'Reilly Media.

AJAX overcomes a severe limitation in traditional web interfaces, which must reload anytime they try to call up new data. By contrast, AJAX lets users manipulate data without clicking through to a new page, Dornfest said. That's putting an end to page refreshes and other interruptions that have handicapped wweb-based applications until now.

Web developers are creating AJAX code libraries and conventions to ease the burden of making applications that speak several computer languages. Even Microsoft is getting into the game, albeit with hooks that aim to keep it tethered to its Windows OS. The company recently announced it is developing its own AJAX toolbox, called Atlas, for web developers who use Microsoft's ASP.NET technologies to build websites.

Perhaps the best known example of AJAX is Google Maps, whose improbable drop shadows and absurdly movable maps spread shock and awe among web developers in February."