Google put the Ajax development method on the map with
the launch of its Google Mail service, and now there are more than
50 websites taking a similar approach to online
applications.
These sites, such as Backpack, Writeboard, Writely and Zimbra,
are at the forefront of the hype surrounding Web 2.0, a new, more
collaborative internet.
Ajax stands for Asynchronous Javascript and XML, but describes
an approach to developing web-based applications, rather than a
specific technology. The basic idea is to create an application
that runs inside the browser, for two main reasons.
First, the bulk of the code is running locally on the user's PC,
which makes the application richer and more responsive.
Second, the application runs without constantly going back to
the server for page refreshes, and this minimises network
traffic.
The advantages include the ability to access an application from
almost any PC anywhere, such as a cybercafe, plus zero installation
and maintenance.
There is, of course, an initial delay while perhaps a couple of
hundred kilobytes of Javascript code is downloaded, and
applications still have some latency problems.
Nonetheless, Ajaxing delivers many of the advantages of the
application service provider model without the dire user experience
that is common with web-hosted applications.
There are also disadvantages. Web-based applications are
generally slower and less powerful than ones that run from a local
PC hard drive. They are also subject to network problems and other
downtime.
And perhaps most significantly for a corporation, they involve
storing important data with a third party, which is often an
unknown entity. Ordinary users are unlikely to keep local back-ups
of their web-based data, even if they can figure out how to do
it.
Also, there is generally no guarantee that the third parties
entrusted with all this data will either keep back-ups or meet
acceptable standards for data protection and privacy.
Web mail that uses Ajaxing is better than just using HTML, as is
clear from comparing "standard" Google Mail with the fall-back HTML
version - but it does not help if you are trying to prevent staff
from using personal mailboxes for company mail.
Indeed, Ajax applications may be even more dangerous, because
the trend is to allow data sharing and collaboration. For example,
there is no real benefit for an individual in using an online
program like Writely - you might as well use Wordpad. The advantage
is that you can easily share the Writely text with someone else, or
everybody else.
Still, Ajax is going to be big, because it makes it possible to
give any web-based application a rich user interface. This was why
the first Ajaxing application - Microsoft's Outlook Web Access -
was developed, and why Microsoft is now planning more.
Some of these new Web 2.0 applications will be aimed at
enterprises, and some will allow companies to run them in-house on
their intranets. Zimbra, a rival to Microsoft Outlook, is an
example.
Google has established Ajaxing with Google Mail and Google Maps.
Now everyone has to do it in order to compete.