The AJAX wildfire is about to break out at the Santa Clara Convention Center in the heart of Silicon Valley, as the AJAXWorld Conference & Expo - the biggest ever tradeshow devoted to AJAX, Rich Internet Applications, and Web 2.0 - opens its doors October 2-4. The three-day event kicks off tomorrow with an all-day AJAX University Bootcamp, led by Dion Hinchcliffe.
In the run-up to AJAXWorld, the blogosphere has been alive with debate and discussion. Among the questions being raised by industry mavens like Matt Asay and analyst-bloggers like Tony Baer of Sandhill.com are:
Do we have "good fragmentation" in the AJAX space, the same way that Linus Torvalds recognized "good fragmentation" in the Linux space 5-6 years ago?
Are the de facto standards for AJAX being imposed by a hegemonic Google?
Baer, in an opinion piece looking at the "Enterprise 2.0" vision, begins very straightforwardly:
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"Using readily available technologies, the Ajax folks have proven that their relatively simple methods not only work, but can open up significant new business opportunities for the web."
But he then moves on to ponder the interoperability problems that are likel to arise in an AJAX world characterized by complete freedom:
"given the fact that there are relatively few technical barriers to doing mashups with other Ajax web pages floating around, you've got some potential interoperability problems on your hands."
What Baer, principal of onStrategies, underlines is the need for something like OpenAjax, which he sees as an explicit attempt by the 50+ vendors now involved to foster standarization in place of fragmentation.
OpenAjax was born in late 2005 thanks largely to the globetrotting of David Boloker, IBM’s CTO of Emerging Internet Technologies - a speaker at AJAXWorld Conference & Expo 2006, naturally. Initially, a small number of leading companies brainstormed about how to ensure that Ajax fulfills its potential as the industry standard rich application platform based on open technologies. These early discussions came to a climax on Feb. 1, 2006, with the announcement of the "OpenAjax Initiative", whose 15 original companies included BEA, Borland, the Dojo Foundation, Eclipse Foundation, Google, IBM, Laszlo Systems, Mozilla Corporation, Novell, Openwave Systems, Oracle, Red Hat, Yahoo, Zend and Zimbra.
Between February 1 and May 15, another 15 organizations joined "OpenAjax", and the (then) 30 companies held a two-day kickoff meeting in San Francisco to lay out the blue-print for the initiative moving forward. At the meeting, the group decided to establish the OpenAjax Alliance, defined its mission, agreed on an interim organizational process, and established its initial activities.
Today, over 50 companies are involved. The Alliance claims that it will "purposely avoid competition with existing open standards and open source initiatives and instead will collaborate with and support any relevant open technology initiative."
Its mission statment is laid out on its brand new website, www.openajax.org:
"The OpenAjax Alliance fills the Ajax interoperability gap in the industry. Other standards organizations such as W3C develop standards focused on what building-block features browsers must support, such as HTML, CSS, DOM, SVG, and JavaScript/ECMAScript. The OpenAjax Alliance addresses a technology layer above these browser formats, where the alliance defines "OpenAjax" specifications and best practices such that multiple Ajax toolkits will coexist and interoperate with the same Ajax-powered application."
The site site aims to provide a standard vocabulary for industry terms such as "Ajax" and "OpenAjax," and will over time start to include white papers and block diagrams on Ajax technologies and associated best practices, with a focus on cross-vendor interoperability.
Baer notes that the Alliance is planning to elect a board of directors, something that will take place at the meeting of its members that it has planned to coincide with AJAXWorld 2006.
("Can the attorneys be far behind?" Baer quips, a reference to the inevitable legal formalities that follow any major industry organization.)
Matt Asay seems optimistic that the shift towards standards will mark a necessary maturing. Nonetheless he seems to know too that for things to crystallize, you sometimes need a following wind. The final words of his piece are: "Good luck AJAX."
Below is the schedule for tomorrow's AJAX University Bootcamp: AJAXWorld University Bootcamp Schedule
TIME
ACTIVITY
8:00am-830am
Computer/Student Compatibility Check
Meet and Greet
8:30am-8:50am
Overview of AJAX Technologies
HTML vs. DHTML
Network Concerns
Asynchronous Conversations with Web servers
The characteristics of high-quality AJAX applications
The Web page is the application
What the server provides
User interaction
8:50am-9:00am
Hand-On Development
Begin building a working AJAX application and start applying technique and technologies as introduced in class
- Creating a basic AJAX application
9:00am-10:30am
Understanding AJAX through the basics of AJAX:
Asynchronous server communication
Dynamic HTML,
Javascript Design patterns
User interface strategies for building elegant, highly addictive Web sites and applications
The Essential AJAX Pieces
Javascript
Cascading Style Sheet (CSS)
Document Object Model (DOM)
XMLHttpRequestObject
The AJAX Application with Javascript
Using CSS
Structuring the View Using the DOM
Applying Styles with Javascript
Communicating with the Web Server in the Background
Designing AJAX Applications
Design Patterns
Introduction to AJAX Frameworks-
Dojo, script.aculo.us, Prototype
Over of framework capabilities
Examples of frameworks in use
9:00am-10:30am
Using Dojo-Hands On
Begin Building Application and Adding Features – Guided Step-by-Step by AJAX Bootcamp Courseware
10:30am-10:45am
Break
10:45am-11:15am
In-Depth Overview of the AJAX frameworks Dojo, Prototype, and script.aculo.us
11:15am-12:00pm
Go Deeper with Dojo - Hands On
Get to know Prototype and Script.aculo.us- Hands On
12:00pm-1:00PM
Lunch
Note: Students have option to work through lunch with support from instructor
1:00pm-2:00pm
Going Deep Into the AJAX User Experience
Elements on the Rich Internet Experience
Interactivity
Robustness
Simplicity
Recognizable Metaphors
Preservation of the Browser Model
Bookmarks/Back Button
Background operations
Building a AJAX Notification Framework
Provenance and Relevance
Rich Experience Support with Third-Party AJAX Client Framework
Using AJAX layouts, containers, and widgets
Patterns for Animation and Highlighting
User Productivity Techniques
Tracking Outstanding Network Requests
2:00am-2:45pm
Fine Tune and Add on to the Application – Guided Step-by-Step by Bootcamp Courseware - Hands On
2:45am-3:00pm
Break
3:00pm-4:00pm
Advanced AJAX Concepts
Apply the best strategies for testing, tuning, and optimizing AJAX applications
Simple and effective AJAX application best practices for creating online applications, SaaS and Web 2.0 software
Applying the latest AJAX topics including building mashups, OpenAJAX, and Comet
4:00pm-5:00pm
Add Advanced AJAX Features to Attendee Application - Hands On
5:00pm-5:30pm
Wrap-Up and Review of Bootcamp Material
Overview of Future of AJAX and Rich Internet Applications
Jeremy Geelan is President & COO of Cloud Expo, Inc. and Conference Chair of the worldwide Cloud Expo series. He appears regularly at conferences and trade shows, speaking to technology audiences both in North America and overseas. He is executive producer and presenter of Cloud Expo's "Power Panels" on SYS-CON.TV.
Most Recent Comments
TopSpin10/01/06 05:57:11 AM EDT
If what is meant is Java EE needs some of the AJAX hype... well Java EE has the tools, libraries and maturity to continue thriving with or without AJAX.
Ajax applications are good for Linux. I think we're all supposed to know that by now. Ajax lets us use the Linux Desktop with less dependence on Windows apps.
The AJAX approach is a great thing. But it needs to be used properly. What we are seeing right now is a case of having a tool and wanting to use it, regardless if the application is the right time to use it. Give a kid a brand new shiny hammer, and they will use it on everything - including the screws
The web was designed for hypertext documents. It was not designed to run apps. Instead of kludging the web to run apps we need to create a new system that is designed to run Internet applications. I believe a simpler straightforward solution to this problem is the way to go. I have begun work on such a system which I call NewI\O.
OpenAjax Alliance is also developing an "OpenAjax Hub" which appatently represents a key part of the technical work and goals of the alliance. Anyone have any more details though?
openAjax10/01/06 03:38:53 AM EDT
IceSoft President and CEO Chris Erickson was recently interviewed by SYS-CON.TV. The company has joined the OpenAJAX Alliance.
Richard Davies wrote: The UK has a good crop of technology pioneers in cloud computing - for example ElasticHosts, FlexiScale, Flexiant, OnApp - and also some strong government initiatives such as G-Cloud.
We will have to see whether this kind of technical leadership converts into swift mass-market adoption or not.
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Baer, in an 
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