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Ajax Is the Buzz of Silicon Valley
Carl Bialik from the WSJ writes "Ajax, or 'Asynchronous JavaScript and XML,' is allowing webpages to update as quickly as desktop software, powering applications like Google Maps and attracting money from Silicon Valley investors, including for a collaboration-software company called Zimbra. The Wall Street Journal reports: 'Zimbra's chief executive, Satish Dhamaraj, says that when he started his company in December 2003, "I really thought that Ajax was just a bathroom cleaner." Now his San Mateo, Calif., business has amassed $16 million in funding from venture-capital firms including Accel Partners, Redpoint Ventures and Benchmark Capital, the firm that famously funded eBay Inc. Peter Fenton, an Accel partner, says Ajax "has the chance to change the face of how we look at Web applications" and could boost technology spending by corporations, because Ajax is also being used to develop software for big companies, not just for consumers.'"
what didnt we know about this already?
Giggidy Giggidy Gigg-a-dy
Let me lead the pack by saying Ajax is not the future, just the past's last gasp. Ajax might seem like a dream combination of souped-up Javascript and souped-up HTML but really its old technology in a fancy wrapper. With all the cross-browser, cross-platform issues, lack of stateful sessions (I dare you to say 'cookie'), no decent IDE, and at the heart of it is just a hack. Elegant, yes, but a hack. This isn't web 2.0, this is web 1.1.
Now to really bring out the hate.
First, I hate crappy Flash banners, obtuse flash navigation systems, and pointless flash splash screens as much as everybody else, but what Macromedia Flex is bringing to the table almost makes up for it.
Visit http://labs.macromedia.com/ and you'll see the new version of Macromedia Flex, (which will be priced under $1000.00 for the IDE and compiler come the next version), and you can truly experience Web 2.0. This thing is a dream, builds fast, clean apps with professional components and containers on top of a powerful framework. This isn't Avalon bloatware, or lazlo OSS 'almost-ware', and it certainly isn't Ajax hack-ware, this is where the future of rich online applications are headed.
Try it (free to download the 120+ day Alpha) and then disagree. Or stay old-school, and play catch-up later on.
Al-Qaeda Headquarters.
Stay tuned for more developments.
Thanks in advance,
Kilgore Trout, C.E.O.
Yet another stupid industry acronym for crappy cobbled together old technology. Wow lookie lookie, we can capture mouse movement events! and hey, we can download more jpg files and move shit around on the screen in those same events. Big freakin deal
haha reminds me of that They Might Be Giants song.. "eeeeee solutions for eeeeee verybody, the chopping block has it all". :cringe:
Fuck I hate that "AJAX" word.. right up alongside evil cousin "blog"