Microsoft Joins OpenAjax Alliance

Kurtz writes "Microsoft has joined The OpenAjax Alliance, which is focused on accelerating the use of Asynchronous JavaScript and XML, or Ajax, technologies. Microsoft said it agreed to join the alliance to work with other vendors to evolve Ajax."

Comments

Only fitting...

[Niten]

Well it seems only fitting, since they're the ones who invented Ajax in the first place...

Embrace, extend... evolve

[subl33t]

"to work with other vendors to evolve Ajax."

Hands up, everyone who thinks Ajax is now doomed...

Re:Embrace, extend... evolve

[kestasjk]

Developers will soon have to pay big bucks to use ajax technologies. It's the Microsoft way.

Spoken by someone who clearly doesn't understand the first thing about AJAX or where the first functions which initiated it were developed.

Back in IE 5.0 when XMLHTTPRequest was an ActiveX function commentators, by the logic used in this thread, might have cried "Embrace extend extinguish! This is MS trying to remove competitors and forcing them to play catch up!".

Years on XMLHTTPRequest is a JavaScript function which is the backbone of AJAX everywhere; Microsoft officially joins an initiative to get a more uniform AJAX platform and people cry "Embrace extend extinguish! This is MS trying to remove competitors and forcing them to play catch up!".

I'm not saying others wouldn't have come up with it if Microsoft hadn't, but it does say something about calling foul too often and too early.

Re:Embrace, extend... evolve

[Frizzle Fry]

I think the tag was originally embraceextend and then some other group decided to embrace and extend it.

How about a link?

[Per Wigren]

OpenAjax Alliance.

That said, I have no idea why this alliance is needed, even after reading most of their site. We already have Prototype, MooTools, jQuery and other great libraries. I'd be perfectly happy if Microsoft could just make IE fully support CSS instead of joining this buzzword-masturbating alliance...

boon and bane

[j.metasyntactic]

How could this be bad? It is a good thing that Microsoft is working with an Open Alliance, in that Microsoft will be the better able to contribute to the developments and innovations. That Microsoft money will assist in any Open system. And do it in a way that works the technologies that are already out there, and that the community has already embraced- instead of developing a proprietary system that does things in a Microsoft way, and does not play nice with others. And since it is an Open Alliance, Microsoft cannot steer the technology in a direction that would benefit Microsoft solely.

Re:boon and bane

[j.metasyntactic]

Undoubtedly they joined up to benefit microsoft. Any company would be foolish to throw down for any other reason. However, to assure that the technology works with Microsoft products, and to assure that Microsoft products work with the innovations that are emerging with AJAX, is within Microsoft's best interest- and therefore (in MS's idea) worthy of contributing some money and attention to. Standards are good. If an Open Alliance creates standards so that everyone's software and products work the same way when using it, then it does not matter who is funding the project. As log as everyone agrees. Not like I.E. which in many cases, ignores standards and does things in a completely different way. When doing web development we must already serve multiple stylesheet directives to accommodate inconsistencies across browsers. Miscrosoft being in on the AJAX Alliance will hopefully eliminate the possibility of needing to serve in multiplicity when using AJAX.

Sweet

[loafing_oaf]

Sweet, now I don't have to learn AJAX. I can't wait for AJAX#.

Control

[Archangel Michael]

Microsoft only seeks to control that which threatens its bread and butter.

In this case, the concept that AJAX presents is a killer app to the bread and butter business of Productivity Software. With AJAX one can create the software one needs, and there is no restrictions on client OS other than a browser that properly displays AJAX components.

Combine this with the idea from Adobe on sandboxing this in a wrapper for distribution away from Client/Server architecture which is completely platform independant, and you have a huge problem for Microsoft.

They are going to try to tie specific implementations to Proprietary products (Windows, IE etc).

Resistance is Futile.

Re:The hole is getting deep

[stratjakt]

Maybe /. should grow up and quit personifying corporations?

Seriously, this website serves absolutely no purpose, and has no weight in the industry. It's a place for geeks to verbally masturbate.

Nobody goes to their boss with a proposal or idea that begins with "I read on slashdot..."

Re:they have a better Ajax

[truthsearch]

Microsoft created the XMLHTTPRequest object in IE. Then other browsers implemented it. So AJAX effectively went from being IE-only to a de-facto standard. I think your point of view is backwards.

Don't get me wrong. I hate Microsoft and they have embraced-extended-extinguished many things. But AJAX probably won't be one of them.

Corporate rubbish?

[Bogtha]

John Resig, lead developer of the jQuery library, has already written about this alliance. Choice quote:

This is all (hopefully) an overreaction. But the very fact that no non-legally-backed entities exist in the alliance (and the fact that no good corporation would sign a legal agreement ambiguously defining the status of an "organization") leads me to believe that many of today's poplar JavaScript libraries are intended to be left out of the drafting of the OpenAjax requirements.

Re:Not really

[bberens]

Edison didn't invent glass, didn't discover electricity, etc. but he DID invent the light bulb while standing on the shoulders of giants. Microsoft invented ajax regardless of how blinded by hatred you are. What might infuriate you even more is that if they hadn't created active-x they would never have created ajax. Imagine that, active-x, famous security nightmare, responsible for the great and powerful ajax.