AJAX cleans up

The answer to the riddle on this week’s cover -- which e-mail client is running in the browser? -- may be a little obvious (see below, left). After all, it can’t be the one on the right: That’s desktop stalwart Microsoft Outlook. But the app on the left, written using AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML), looks just as rich as Microsoft’s fatware, even though it’s delivered strictly through the browser.

The way the application, Scalix Web Access, is delivered isn’t all that remarkable; there are loads of browser-based mail clients, even a Web-based version of Outlook. But Scalix’s product, along with other apps created in AJAX, is a different beast. For one thing, it doesn’t feel like sluggish, browser-based software. It’s laden with rich, desktoplike features, and it requires that no additional software be installed on a PC. Probably most remarkable, it’s downright responsive in a way that classic click-pause-reload Web apps

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aren’t. That’s because under the hood, the data sets on any AJAX page can refresh independently of the rest of the window, regenerating sections of the page without forcing many round-trips to the server. No hourglass, no waiting.

Users like the experience, which is why the tools that constitute AJAX -- CSS, JavaScript, XHTML, XML, and XSLT -- are typically associated with whizbang consumer apps such as Google Maps and Amazon.com’s A9. Yet as author Amit Asaravala notes in “Putting AJAX to Work”, the functionality and improved response time that AJAX brings to the Web make it a compelling choice for the enterprise as well. Indeed, numerous AJAX app vendors are now marketing heavily to businesses. In-house app dev teams are also getting excited, while IT management finds itself tempted by the prospect of decreased network traffic and easier maintenance.

All that, and a catchy acronym to boot. Sounds like a winner.