AJAX & RIA Journal
Special: Results of
OpenAjax Alliance's
Browser Feature Wish List By Coach Wei; on behalf of the OpenAjax Alliance  What does the AJAX
community want from
future browsers? How are
these different requests
prioritized? Web
developers have done
amazing things with AJAX
for both Web 1.0 and Web
2.0 applications, but
what barriers need to be
removed to enable the
next generation of... Jul. 17, 2008 05:45 AM Reads: 1,057 |
A Brief History of AJAX By Coach Wei; Rob Gonda On April 30, 1993, CERN
announced that the World
Wide Web would be free
for anyone to use and the
Web took off, jumping
from 130 Web sites in
1993, to over 100,000 in
1996, to 11.5 billion
sites in 2005. The main
protocol used on the Web
is the Hypertext Transfer
... May. 19, 2008 01:00 PM Reads: 22,376 |
Will "Rich Internet"
Become Rich Man's
Internet? By Coach Wei  The Web is one of the
most important
technological as well as
social/cultural
developments in our life.
Its global impact is
rooted in its openness
and its capability to
evolve on a democratic
basis. However, I have
concerns. I'm concerned
about the significant
... Apr. 3, 2008 04:45 AM Reads: 3,722 Replies: 2 |
Why Do 'Cool Kids' Choose
Ruby or PHP to Build
Websites Instead of Java? By Coach Wei  Here is a question that I
have been pondering on
and off for quite a
while: Why do 'cool kids'
choose Ruby or PHP to
build websites instead of
Java? I have to admit
that I do not have an
answer. Why do I even
care? Because I am a Java
developer. Like many Java
dev... Apr. 1, 2008 05:30 PM Reads: 105,515 Replies: 127 |
Announcing a $50K Web 2.0
Venture Fund With
Microsoft By Coach Wei  Despite the web 2.0 hype
and growth of firms of
Y-Combinator, the
corporate venture
investment has not
evolved at all.
Corporations in general
are having a hard time
adjusting to the web 2.0
age. When I brought up
this idea to Microsoft
executives a year ago
dur... Apr. 1, 2008 04:00 PM Reads: 3,186 Replies: 1 |
OpenAjax F2F Meeting in
New York City By Coach Wei  The F2F meeting of
OpenAjax Alliance at NYC
on March 21st worked out
really well in my
oppinion. As a result of
the last F2F meeting in
October 2007, we formed a
new task force called
'Runtime Advocacy Task
Force' at OpenAjax. The
goal of Runtime Task
Force is to ... Mar. 29, 2008 07:30 AM Reads: 11,218 Replies: 1 |
Possible Solutions to Web
Security Issues By Coach Wei  The 'Same Origin Policy'
is at the core of
browser's security model.
Under the 'Same Origin
Policy', a web resource
can only interact with
another web resource if
and only if both
resources are from the
same origin. However,
'Cross site scripting'
and 'cookie' bot... Mar. 13, 2008 11:15 AM Reads: 5,591 |
The Culture Root for Web
2.0 and Barrack Obama By Coach Wei  As a web 2.0 guy who
blogs on 'Direct from Web
2.0', I did not see this
coming. In fact, my
preferences were Mitt
Romney from the
republican side (maybe
McCain too) and Hilary
Clinton from the democrat
side. I think the three
of them (Mitt Romney,
John McCain and ... Jan. 9, 2008 10:00 AM Reads: 12,774 Replies: 5 |
How Hard is AJAX Coding?
The "Oh My God" Moment By Coach Wei People say Ajax is
hard...and this may be
why. I spent some time
playing with Bob
Buffone's newest work on
Ajax over the last few
days. Bob built an
xModify processor that
runs on either jQuery,
Dojo or Mootools. The
xModify processor is
powerful but quite
light... Dec. 2, 2007 12:30 PM Reads: 9,890 Replies: 5 |
AJAX Coding - Is This a
Little Too Much Hack for
Prototype.js? By Coach Wei  Prototype.js is a popular
AJAX toolkit for web
developers. I have
enjoyed using it despite
the complaints I heard
from people about how
Prototype.js does too
much JavaScript hacking
that breaks other
people's code. One of the
common complaints is that
Prototype.js... Nov. 22, 2007 09:45 AM Reads: 8,650 Replies: 1 |
OpenAjax Hub 1.0 and
InteropFest By Coach Wei  OpenAjax Alliance has
made substantial progress
in the last 12 months
since its inception. The
cornerstone is
OpenAjaxHub 1.0 (OaaHub
1.0). OaaHub 1.0, an open
source project under
Apache V2 license,
focuses on
interoperability - it
enables different Ajax
compo... Oct. 1, 2007 02:45 AM Reads: 12,520 |
Dojo Grid and Open Source
Community Contribution By Coach Wei  This is interesting not
only because it bridges a
gap in Dojo toolkit. Dojo
has been the most
credible offering in the
Ajax marketplace so far
(there are a few other
good ones too, such as
jQuery and EXT, though
they have different
design focus from Dojo).
A lot o... Sep. 17, 2007 04:15 PM Reads: 14,791 Replies: 1 |
The Best Story Ever In
Software - Sun Changes
Ticker to JAVA By Coach Wei This is going to be a
very short blog because
the story itself is too
good to add any comments:
Sun Microsystems Changes
Ticker to JAVA. On August
23, 2007, 'Sun announced
Thursday that it would
retire its SUNW moniker
on Nasdaq and replace
with JAVA effective
Mon... Aug. 29, 2007 11:45 AM Reads: 13,468 Replies: 1 |
JavaFX and Rich Internet
Applications By Coach Wei Quite a few people are
asking me what I think of
Sun's JavaFX
announcement. It is funny
and we saw this coming -
Who wouldn't anticipate
Sun to make some big
announcement at JavaOne?
People were predicting
the announcement is going
to be 'open sourcing
Java' - Oh,... Aug. 1, 2007 07:30 PM Reads: 34,760 Replies: 2 |
OpenAjax CommunicationHub
Problem Definition By Coach Wei OpenAjax Alliance has
been growing well with
over 70 members. The
initial OpenAjaxHub
received immediate
community response - most
are positive and a few
responses were negative
but turned out to be very
helpful. Over ten Ajax
offerings demonstrated
support for Op... Jun. 7, 2007 12:30 PM Reads: 18,398 Replies: 1 |
Situational
Application@MIT CIO
Symposium By Coach Wei Today is the fourth
annual MIT CIO Symposium.
The weather could have
been better and parking
could have been much
better (my house is
within 25 minutes walking
distance from MIT. I
drove instead and spent
30 minutes looking for
parking) - but the
conference is fai... Jun. 2, 2007 07:45 PM Reads: 12,863 |
"Web 2.0 Over and Out" -
What Are You Smoking? By Coach Wei I am not as familiar with
west coast VCs and have
not run into Peter Rip, a
general partner at
Crosslink Capital. In
general, looking at his
blog EarlyStageVC, Peter
is quite well informed
and intelligent which is
why I was highly
surprised to see a post
from him ... Jun. 2, 2007 05:45 PM Reads: 19,222 Replies: 1 |
Real-World AJAX Book
Preview: Window Event
Handling By Coach Wei The JavaScript file
handles various
window-related events
such as resizing the
window in response to
mouse-drag events on the
four edges, maximizing
the window or closing the
window in response to
mouse-click events, or
moving the window in
response to mouse-drag ... May. 22, 2007 11:00 AM Reads: 11,149 |
Real-World AJAX Book
Preview: The Code By Coach Wei The AjaxWord client
consists of JavaScript
and HMTL code. The
application's user
interface is defined in
HTML. Client-side logic
written in JavaScript
defi nes the behavior of
the user interface by
leveraging a generic
JavaScript/DHTML toolkit
that's built from
... May. 21, 2007 11:00 AM Reads: 9,691 |
Real-World AJAX Book
Preview: AjaxWord: An
Open Source Web Word
Processor By Coach Wei AjaxWord
(www.ajaxword.com) is an
open source Web-based
word processor. It
closely mimics Microsoft
Word in both
look-and-feel and
functionality. The
application was initially
written between 1997 and
1999 using
JavaScript/DHTML on the
client side with ASP on
... May. 20, 2007 10:00 AM Reads: 45,158 |
Adobe Open Sourcing Flex
a Sign of Desperation? By Coach Wei Adobe sent out a press
release titled 'Adobe to
Open Source Flex'. Is
that so? Dana Blankenhorn
from ZDNet says this is A
sign of desperation from
Adobe...Is that so? After
reading the press release
a few times, the title
'to Open Source Flex'
seems to be misleading... Apr. 26, 2007 09:30 AM Reads: 17,908 Replies: 2 |
Dojo Footprint and AJAX
Performance
Recommendation By Coach Wei AJAX is flying high and
AJAX toolkits are
certainly of big help.
However, I do hear from
people in the community
complain about the size
of various Ajax toolkits.
A lot of AJAX toolkits
requires hundreds of
kilobytes of download,
sometime even over
megabytes. Dyla... Apr. 4, 2007 07:15 PM Reads: 21,584 Replies: 2 |
Scratching My Head at
AJAXWorld By Coach Wei AJAXWorld is a great
conference that hundrends
of people gathered here
at RooseVelt Hotel in
NYC. You can see and hear
the excitement around
this new paradigm of
computing. But once in
while, there are things
that are quite amusing.
Java vs. Microsoft WPF:
It was ... Mar. 20, 2007 05:30 PM Reads: 15,968 Replies: 2 |
AjaxWord: An Open Source
Web Word Processor By Coach Wei  AjaxWord
(www.ajaxword.com) is an
open source Web-based
word processor. It
closely mimics Microsoft
Word in both
look-and-feel and
functionality. The
application was initially
written between 1997 and
1999 using
JavaScript/DHTML on the
client side with ASP on
... Mar. 18, 2007 02:00 PM Reads: 24,508 |
Mobile AJAX for Workers
on the Edge By Coach Wei The number of mobile
workers globally will
soon be more than double
the total U.S.
population, according to
predictions by another
analyst firm, IDC Corp.
IDC has predicted that in
two years there will be
878 million mobile
workers linked to their
corporate headqu... Feb. 23, 2007 06:45 PM Reads: 12,810 Replies: 1 |
The Business Value of Web
2.0 for Enterprises By Coach Wei Corporate IT has always
been centered on
application development
and maintenance. Each
evolution of computing,
from mainframe to
client/server to web 1.0,
brings dramatically
improved efficiency,
significantly lowered
costs and new business
opportunities. Web 2.0 ... Feb. 23, 2007 04:30 PM Reads: 21,197 Replies: 1 |
Real-World AJAX Book
Preview: Some Classic
Examples By Coach Wei; Rob Gonda Ever since the term AJAX
was coined, the concept
has spread like wildfire
in developer communities.
Lots of applications have
been developed using
AJAX. In fact, a lot of
applications were
developed using AJAX long
before AJAX came into
existence. In this
section,... Feb. 20, 2007 10:00 AM Reads: 16,540 |
Real-World AJAX Book
Preview: AJAX
Alternatives By Coach Wei; Rob Gonda AJAX is a viable way to
develop richer, more
interactive Web
applications. These kinds
of applications are
typically referred to as
'Rich Internet
Applications' (RIAs). RIA
is a term that describes
the next-generation Web
applications that combine
the performance ... Feb. 18, 2007 10:00 AM Reads: 17,639 |
Real-World AJAX Book
Preview: AJAX Application
Architecture By Coach Wei; Rob Gonda Given the challenges
associated with AJAX, it
is particularly important
to architect an AJAX
application properly.
Otherwise the result can
be either lackluster
performance or a code
maintenance nightmare, or
both. Feb. 17, 2007 10:00 AM Reads: 14,582 |
Real-World AJAX Book
Preview: The AJAX
Software Platform
Requires Real Design By Coach Wei; Rob Gonda AJAX has raised the
awareness of the
potential of Web
applications. It has also
deepened and broadened
the use of JavaScript and
DHTML in application
development. There are
significant benefits to
AJAX, but there are also
significant challenges. Feb. 16, 2007 10:00 AM Reads: 13,303 |
Real-World AJAX Book
Preview: Servers Are for
Data, Not Pages By Coach Wei; Rob Gonda AJAX changes the role of
Web pages from being
merely HTML documents
into 'applications' that
contain both HTML markup
and code. And it changes
the role of the 'server'
from merely serving HTML
pages to serving data
too. In classic Web
applications, Web servers
ser... Feb. 15, 2007 10:00 AM Reads: 13,553 |
Real-World AJAX Book
Preview: What is AJAX? By Coach Wei; Rob Gonda 'Ajax, shorthand for
Asynchronous JavaScript
and XML, is a web
development technique for
creating interactive web
applications. The intent
is to make web pages feel
more responsive by
exchanging small amounts
of data with the server
behind the scenes, so
that the ... Feb. 13, 2007 03:00 PM Reads: 13,186 |
Is AJAX Deprecating
Client Side Java? By Coach Wei The AJAX wildfire makes
many people constantly
think about what impact
it has on other
technologies such as
Java, Flash and .NET. Are
application developers
going to switch from
other technologies to
AJAX? I explored this
subject with regard to
Flash in my earlier post. Feb. 9, 2007 08:15 AM Reads: 21,524 Replies: 6 |
Web 2.0 Re-Examined:
Nexaweb's Coach Wei On
The Paradigm Shift,
Technology Stack and
Business Value By Coach Wei  In this comprehensive
article Wei re-examines
Web 2.0, in contrast to
the common
consumer-centric point of
view, by looking at its
technology stack and
impact on enterprise
computing. Wei
establishes a Web 2.0
technology stack that
forms the foundation of a
para... Jan. 11, 2007 12:30 AM Reads: 26,255 Replies: 3 |
Year 2007: Return of Tech
IPO? By Coach Wei The tech IPO market goes
in cycles, just like how
spring is followed by
summer, autumn and winter
and then returns in a
year again. A well
respected VC shared with
me some of his studies on
the cyclic nature of the
IPO market one of the key
conclusions is that the
... Dec. 21, 2006 04:00 PM Reads: 16,727 Replies: 1 |
The Truth of Yahoo,
Google and IT Enabled
Services By Coach Wei This Yahoo internal
document by Brad
Garlinghouse (a Yahoo
senior vice president) is
a tremendous read. Brad
started by stating his
love for Yahoo, for
example: I proudly bleed
purple and, yellow
everyday! And like so
many people here, I love
this company Then he ... Nov. 19, 2006 05:00 PM Reads: 15,933 Replies: 1 |
Open Source Java:
"Neutral for Vendors,
Good for Developers, and
Great for Sun" By Coach Wei The industry has been
talking about 'open
source Java' for many
years and it finally
happened. To be honest, I
have not been
enthusiastic about open
sourcing Java. First of
all, what does 'open
source Java' mean? Java
source code has been
available for many years.... Nov. 17, 2006 12:00 PM Reads: 28,426 Replies: 5 |
Is Microsoft Still
Relevant? How? By Coach Wei Back four years ago
(2002), a good friend who
works at Microsoft told
me confidentially that
Microsoft is working on
something called 'XAML'.
'Very similar to Nexaweb
- watch out', he said. To
the contrary, I was
actually thrilled.
Regardless of what it
means from... Oct. 30, 2006 07:00 AM Reads: 21,435 Replies: 3 |
OpenAjax Update -
Addressing Key Challenges
For AJAX Adoption By Coach Wei OpenAjax Alliance had its
2nd face to face meeting
on Oct 5th and 6th at Sun
Microsystem's office in
Santa Clara, CA after the
AjaxWorld Conference.
While paying close
attention to
confidentiality concerns,
I feel comfortable
sharing some of my
thoughts and reacti... Oct. 18, 2006 12:30 PM Reads: 16,390 Replies: 2 |
Web 2.0 Communication
Layer: from HTTP to Comet
to Internet Messaging Bus By Coach Wei We all know HTTP, the
communication layer of
Web 1.0. Recently, we
also started to realize
some of the limitations
of HTTP. For example,
HTTP is request/response
only and does not support
bi-directional
communication. There are
techniques to be employed
for enabli... Oct. 18, 2006 12:30 PM Reads: 22,359 Replies: 7 |
Coach Wei is the Founder and Chairman of Nexaweb (www.nexaweb.com), developers of the leading software platform for building and deploying Web 2.0 and AJAX applications. Previously, he played a key role at EMC Corporation in the development of a new generation of storage network management software. Wei has his master's degree from MIT, holds several patents, is the author of several technology publications including JDJ, Web 2.0 Journal, and AJAXWorld Magazine, and is an industry advocate for the proliferation of open standards.
