Will AJAX Threaten Windows Desktop?

prostoalex writes "They are not your father's HTML pages anymore. AJAX interfaces are getting more complex and versatile, relieving the user of the necessity to reload the page, and thus are becoming more like your average desktop apps. The catch? AJAX apps work in any browser out there, making the OS layer a bit irrelevant. Will the trend threaten Microsoft desktop near-monopoly? Or are we hearing the story of poorly debugged device drivers again?"

Comments

Re:I hope not...

[aftk2]

You know, hordes of Slashdotters might descend upon me for the mere suggestion, but you might try looking at Flash:

• Many more widgets, interfaces available
• The user's browser - provided they have the Flash plugin installed, which most do - is irrelevant
• Reusable, shareable components
• And, the main reason I thought of Flash in the first place: Actionscript 2, which includes strict data typing, class files and structure, etc...

Flash can be really horrible for a great many things. As a Mac user, I'm unfortunately familiar with its occasionally lagging performance. But it can fit the bill for some things, and I think Macromedia - before they became Adobemedia, of course - were really trying to promote Flash as an application creation tool, rather than just some fancy rich media web plugin. Think about it.

Oh. And Flash had remoting with XML while the term AJAX was still a gleam in the eye of those folks at Adaptive Path.