Instant Web Site Tools Projects AJAX To Change Software and Web Development Market
Skip | 29 November, 2005 15:58
An emerging Web programming technique that is a cross between
Javascript and XHTML promises to shake up the web programming and
software market and blur the line between desktop and Web applications.
Over the years, desktop applications tied to a specific operating system have become entrenched as the main way to work on a computer. AJAX, a set of development techniques standardized over the past eight years, could change all that by bringing more sophisticated interfaces to Web applications. With that, backers are hoping it can open a crack in the dominance of desktop software like Microsoft's Office, the undisputed market leader.
Messaging company Zimbra is one of several companies betting that AJAX-style Web development will shake up the PC software market. Zimba offers a messenging and collaboration set of tools using AJAX. You can visit them at www.zimbra.com
While the AJAX development technique is likely to blur the line between desktop and Web software, it's unlikely to displace Microsoft's dominance as the leading applications provider.
Recently, Zimbra outlined its business model and announced that it has secured $16 million in venture funding in conjunction with the recent Web 2.0 conference in San Francisco. Zimba said it will launch its e-mail server software as a free open-source edition next month. Customers can pay a yearly subscription fee for updates and support, and a higher-end version will be available for a price.
Zimbra is one of a large and growing number of companies that are betting that AJAX, which stands for Asynchronous JavaScript + XML, will turn out to be more than just a catchy abbreviation. In the development arena, programmers use a number of standards-based technologies, notably JavaScript and XML, to write software applications. Many Web entrepreneurs and established software providers are hoping that AJAX can reinvigorate the PC software business by marrying the graphical user interface of desktop computers with the benefits of Web services.
Nobody expects AJAX-style applications to overtake Microsoft Office anytime soon. Microsoft has long controlled more than 90 percent of the desktop software market, and the company's Information Worker unit, which includes Office and related tools, generated more than $11 billion in revenue last year; more than one quarter of Microsoft's total revenue in fiscal year 2005, according to the company.
But companies like Zimbra are paving the way for others to enter a market long thought to be stagnant.
Several smaller companies are in the early stages of building AJAX-style applications that are Web-based alternatives to many PC mainstays, potentially luring away Microsoft customers. Examples include project management application Basecamp and an online calendar program now in beta from CalendarHub. Visit http://www.calendarhub.com/ for more examples of AJAX software applictions.
At the moment, Web pages are limited, compared with most desktop applications. AJAX frees Web pages from the clunkiness they suffer from by making them more interactive and so more functional, Web developers say.
Using AJAX, developers can create an interactive user interface that's comparable to what's available on desktop applications. For example, Microsoft Outlook users take for granted that they can drag an e-mail message into a folder, but that's not possible right now with Web-based e-mail clients like MSN Hotmail. With Ajax applications, users can move items such as windows and buttons around a Web page, as they do with programs linked to Windows or the Mac OS.
Earlier this year, Google Maps, one of the first applications to make the benefits of AJAX development clear to a broad audience, emerged. The program enables people to use a mouse to move a map image around the screen.
Zimbra programmers have used the same techniques to make e-mail clients and servers more interactive. The company's Web-based client provides dragging and dropping calendar items and searching for past e-mails which were features typically only found in desktop software such as Microsoft's Outlook and Lotus Notes.
The arrival of Web-based applications with user interfaces as good as those in PC applications is a big change. The shift is big enough to make the Web browser, 10 years after its invention, more appealing as a way for people to work with software.
For a more pure definition of AJAX, visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AJAX
For those of you young or newly experienced web developers, now is an excellent time to get yourself familiar and proficient with AJAX. IWT projects AJAX to be a significant tool in the future of software and web development and if you plan on being a part of the next evolution of the web, AJAX is a set of tools you need in your chest. This "crack" in the Microsoft armour may prove to open the door to hundreds of new and profitable software engineering companies. Will you be one of them?
Portions of this story were quoted from www.news.com
Over the years, desktop applications tied to a specific operating system have become entrenched as the main way to work on a computer. AJAX, a set of development techniques standardized over the past eight years, could change all that by bringing more sophisticated interfaces to Web applications. With that, backers are hoping it can open a crack in the dominance of desktop software like Microsoft's Office, the undisputed market leader.
Messaging company Zimbra is one of several companies betting that AJAX-style Web development will shake up the PC software market. Zimba offers a messenging and collaboration set of tools using AJAX. You can visit them at www.zimbra.com
While the AJAX development technique is likely to blur the line between desktop and Web software, it's unlikely to displace Microsoft's dominance as the leading applications provider.
Recently, Zimbra outlined its business model and announced that it has secured $16 million in venture funding in conjunction with the recent Web 2.0 conference in San Francisco. Zimba said it will launch its e-mail server software as a free open-source edition next month. Customers can pay a yearly subscription fee for updates and support, and a higher-end version will be available for a price.
Zimbra is one of a large and growing number of companies that are betting that AJAX, which stands for Asynchronous JavaScript + XML, will turn out to be more than just a catchy abbreviation. In the development arena, programmers use a number of standards-based technologies, notably JavaScript and XML, to write software applications. Many Web entrepreneurs and established software providers are hoping that AJAX can reinvigorate the PC software business by marrying the graphical user interface of desktop computers with the benefits of Web services.
Nobody expects AJAX-style applications to overtake Microsoft Office anytime soon. Microsoft has long controlled more than 90 percent of the desktop software market, and the company's Information Worker unit, which includes Office and related tools, generated more than $11 billion in revenue last year; more than one quarter of Microsoft's total revenue in fiscal year 2005, according to the company.
But companies like Zimbra are paving the way for others to enter a market long thought to be stagnant.
Several smaller companies are in the early stages of building AJAX-style applications that are Web-based alternatives to many PC mainstays, potentially luring away Microsoft customers. Examples include project management application Basecamp and an online calendar program now in beta from CalendarHub. Visit http://www.calendarhub.com/ for more examples of AJAX software applictions.
At the moment, Web pages are limited, compared with most desktop applications. AJAX frees Web pages from the clunkiness they suffer from by making them more interactive and so more functional, Web developers say.
Using AJAX, developers can create an interactive user interface that's comparable to what's available on desktop applications. For example, Microsoft Outlook users take for granted that they can drag an e-mail message into a folder, but that's not possible right now with Web-based e-mail clients like MSN Hotmail. With Ajax applications, users can move items such as windows and buttons around a Web page, as they do with programs linked to Windows or the Mac OS.
Earlier this year, Google Maps, one of the first applications to make the benefits of AJAX development clear to a broad audience, emerged. The program enables people to use a mouse to move a map image around the screen.
Zimbra programmers have used the same techniques to make e-mail clients and servers more interactive. The company's Web-based client provides dragging and dropping calendar items and searching for past e-mails which were features typically only found in desktop software such as Microsoft's Outlook and Lotus Notes.
The arrival of Web-based applications with user interfaces as good as those in PC applications is a big change. The shift is big enough to make the Web browser, 10 years after its invention, more appealing as a way for people to work with software.
For a more pure definition of AJAX, visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AJAX
For those of you young or newly experienced web developers, now is an excellent time to get yourself familiar and proficient with AJAX. IWT projects AJAX to be a significant tool in the future of software and web development and if you plan on being a part of the next evolution of the web, AJAX is a set of tools you need in your chest. This "crack" in the Microsoft armour may prove to open the door to hundreds of new and profitable software engineering companies. Will you be one of them?
Portions of this story were quoted from www.news.com
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