AJAX Riders web 2.0 online Office Project Resurrection

Ajax|web| Project | online

Trendy development technologies such as Ajax are stimulating the growth of consumer Web applications. These new technologies even "resurrect" some once considered impossible projects: the online version of Office.

The introduction of some Web services, represented by Google Maps, makes Ajax technology famous. Currently, dozens of start-ups are using it to develop online versions of desktop software, including word processing software and project management software. However, they are not simply copying office on the Internet, and many of these Web applications, sometimes called Web 2.0, focus on publishing and sharing information over the network.

The basic Ajax technology was invented by Microsoft in the 1990 's, but until recently ━━ was about the term "Ajax" in the February, and there were plenty of developers and businesses seizing the opportunities that Ajax brought. Google's use of Ajax this year has helped prove that Web apps can look and feel comparable to existing desktop applications. The further popularity of web standards in browsers has given developers the assurance that AJAX applications can run on most PCs.

When the word "AJAX" appeared earlier this year, the companies that used it began to blossom, says Richard Burton, an analyst at the group. Start-ups with talented developers can use AJAX technology without being limited by tool makers. Richard says interactive Web pages developed with multimedia tools such as Flash and flex have been around for years, and these so-called "rich Internet application" tools will continue to be useful for complex tasks, but Ajax can meet the needs of simple tasks ━━ such as adding interactivity to existing Web sites.

The ability to build a better web paves the way for managed services, a change to the traditional desktop software model. Microsoft is actively turning to web-based application software services. In November, Microsoft reorganized its business unit with software services and launched Live.com services. Many live.com services, including Windows Live Mail (Hotmail), rely on a front-end that uses Ajax.

The increased use of Ajax and the Microsoft steering Service have sparked discussions on web-based office replacements. Some companies have developed office software, and now they are making web-based communications an integral part of their products.

For example, writely is an online word processing software. But Upstartle, co-founder of the company, says the system's greater value is that users can easily collaborate on developing Web pages and share Web pages. He said that in the 4 and 5 months after we launched writely, people thought we were crazy. Why can't the user edit the document in the browser? Now Google and Microsoft are developing similar products.

Google has engaged some of its employees in OpenOffice open source projects, prompting speculation that it will provide a managed version of OpenOffice. Microsoft has not announced that it will provide a fully managed version of Office. Microsoft announced last month that it would introduce Office live services for small businesses, accounting for customers or managing users, but that the service would complement, rather than replace, office. Microsoft says the Office Live service will have an ad-supported version and an ordered version.

Another start-up for developing web-based office-style applications is the Silveroffice━━goffice developer, which provides word processing and printing capabilities, and plans to launch online spreadsheets and demo software soon. Kevin, the company's founder and chief executive, said they planned to launch a service next January to convert documents into PDF format.

Goffice is free for users and earns revenue through advertising. Kevin says Silveroffice plans to offer subscription services to corporate users who do not want to see ads. Goffice's number of users has reached "5 digits," and Silveroffice wants Goffice users to rise to 2 million, many of which will come from outside the United States.

Replacing office is also not a silveroffice goal. ' I think Goffice can coexist with office and they don't have to be a life-and-death fight, ' says Kevin. He points out that while Microsoft's outlook is pre-installed on many PCs, people still use web-based e-mail, such as Hotmail or Gmail. He noted that using Ajax and web-based publishing patterns enabled his start-ups to develop applications independently.

Writely, Goffice and other web-based office software, personal information management tools, instant messaging software mainly for consumers. However, it industry officials and analysts say the impact of Ajax-style browser development patterns can be felt in companies as well. Enterprises can use Ajax to add more interactive "sharing, reorganization, and reengineering" to existing enterprise websites, using xml-based  technology to obtain data from different information sources.

e-mail and schedule the technical director of start-up Zimbra, Scott, predicts that Ajax will have a significant impact on business-to-business applications, such as financial services and telecoms customers with a rich user interface. Zimbra Enterprise-oriented products use AJAX for data interchange, for example, to make a timeline entry display the meeting location on Google Maps.

Sam predicts that the growing popularity of Ajax will lead to an "overrun" of interactive features on Web pages, and that, in fact, some industry officials and analysts are already concerned about the misuse of Ajax, resulting in highly interactive but poorly designed pages. ' Ajax is not a panacea, ' says Mr Scott, noting that applications such as complex spreadsheets and demos require ━━ storage capabilities.

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