AJAX is about a rich user interface that is not just reactive but also pro-active; it's about content, perhaps socialized (user-generated) content; and it's about pain-free deployment, with loosely coupled services. It's not about "eye candy."These assertions formed the introduction to this morning's keynote presentation by Microsoft's Joe Stagner at AJAXWorld Conference & Expo 2007 West, at the Santa Clara Convention Center this morning.
Using PageFlakes and the Virtual Earth Interactive SDK as examples of best-of-breed rich user interfaces, Stagner explored the issue of balance in the context of AJAX.
"Meaningful, productive, forward looking AJAX is at core a balance," said Stagner. "A balance between client and server. A balance between commercial and open source. A balance between single platform and multiplatform. A balance between de facto and du jour standards. A balance between well established and emerging technologies."
Stagner, who has been building software since for over 30 years, shared with delegates how Microsoft is supporting and encouraging this balance with ASP.NET AJAX and other RIA technologies.