AJAX may be the biggest waste of time for the Web
AJAX is OLD. It's been around for a decade. It's based on the techniques that exist almost since the web exploded: HTML, Javascript. Both have served the Web well. Both are bound to die.
Seriously: do you really want to develop rich apps using loads of javascript, XML and HTML manipulations? Isn't that more or less what you have been doing for the past decade? And a decade in internet time is a LOT of time!
I don't think the future of the web lives in HTML and forms and javascript. The future of the web should be fully inmersive 3D worlds where you can hang around, look at things, interact with other people/buyers, etc. Imagine what Amazon would be with such an approach. Instead of browsing catalogs, walk past some hall and find all products in a shelf. Look up and see the special offers signs. That's the web I want for the future. What is my broadband's use if all I'm gonna get is faster static flat graphics and buttons and text???
There is already a web technology that would readily support building next-generation websites: Flash. It's deployed on **98%** of internet-connected PCs. That's WAY more than any single browser, and most probably more than all XMLHTTPRequest/AJAX-capable browsers together!
And Microsoft is down right with their approach to take over the web: XAML, fully powered by vector graphics that will make those 3D worlds possible. But they made what I think was a terrible mistake: rewrite Flash by themselves. You see, when Vista finally hits the streets, Flash will still be the most mature vector-graphics platform out there, with XAML almost certainly full of bugs and missing lots of features (it's going to be a v1 after all), lack of support and adoption for years, etc. Had Microsoft bought Macromedia/Flash, Vista could have been released at least a year ahead of time, its new UI powered by Flash, and seamlessly integrated with the web.
Now, if somebody is going to do anything to fight MS in this new wave, it'd better start by buying Flash (now owned by Adobe). And there's no-one in a better possition to compete than Google. I just hope Google doesn't waste too much time and money in a decadent platform, and realizes soon enough to survive MS' next attack.
And if I were Microsoft, I'd leave IE as-is, full of bugs, with a leaky script engine, and maybe make scripts slower in future releases. In the end, improving the browser in a world where they would like everyone to switch to XAML will only benefit Google, who seems to base its strategy in AJAX applications.
