Early in 2006, before the general Internet-using public was aware of what I began referring to ­ in editorials, blog entries, and SYS-CON's Internet TV Webcasts ­ as "The AJAX Moment," there was a strong sense among industry insiders that AJAX-like approaches, if not actually AJAX itself, were a shoo-in as the new paradigm for the development of Web 2.0 and the fulfillment of the software development community's long-held dream of complete freedom from operating system or runtime environment­dependent technologies.

By running on Internet technology ­ i-Technology ­ instead, businesses could not only enjoy such freedom but also quickly enable all the rich-media functionality we have come to associate with AJAX ever since Google popularized a smarter, more responsive and interactive Web experience by launching its Google Maps and Gmail applications.

Was the early optimism borne out by subsequent events? I'll say! In fact, if anything, the early pronouncements about the fundamental raising of the user-experience bar that the rise of AJAX catalyzed were in hindsight unnecessarily guarded. The "architecture of participation," which MySpace and Flickr exemplified, has been complemented swiftly and, if one believes Enterprise Web 2.0 thought-leader Coach Wei, with enormous business upside, by an "architecture of partition" ­ that's to say, Web 2.0 is actually based on a new technology foundation from Web 1.0, one comprising an application client container, an Internet messaging bus, and an enterprise mashup server.

"Beyond being a consumer phenomenon," Wei contends, "Web 2.0 has a significant impact on business computing by enabling better, faster, richer applications while reducing costs, with tangible and measurable ROI."

The reason he has coined the phrase "architecture of partition," Wei notes, is that this new technology stack gives developers, for the first time in Internet history, the capability of deciding the appropriate architecture partition according to application requirements.

RIA-compatible approaches like AJAX are simply a better way to build, deploy, and maintain enterprise IT solutions, resulting in better user productivity, lower operation costs, and reduced development and maintenance costs. As Wei explains:

"The Web 2.0 technology stack eliminates the need to install client software, enabling companies to leverage the Internet more cost-effectively. Equally important, an organization can deploy the same version of a Web 2.0 application to all its users, across heterogeneous client configurations and network connection types. This eliminates the need to develop and maintain multiple client software versions, the need to standardize client systems and the need to upgrade network infrastructure."

Wei's "Enterprise Web 2.0" is just one of countless themes and memes that will be front and center at AJAXWorld Conference & Expo 2007 (East) in New York, March 19­21, 2007. Others include the ever-increasing "micro-chunking" of the Web; the emerging "social aggregator" information architecture that blogs, startpages, and social networks are all swiftly converging toward; the "Real-Time Web;" and the principles involved in building a successful, sustainable, and vibrant online community.

Other March topics are OpenLaszlo including the "Legals" project, Componentized Websites, JavaScript Workarounds, Cost-Effective Scalability, Next-Generation Web 2.0 Tools, AJAX Vulnerabilities, Desktop AJAX, Google Gadgets, Microsoft's ASP.NET AJAX, Adobe's Apollo, SaaS Business Models, and The Business Value of RIAs.

As it did with the inaugural AJAXWorld last year, held in Silicon Valley, the OpenAjax Alliance is timing a major meeting to coincide with this year's East Coast Conference & Expo, at the historic Roosevelt Hotel in midtown Manhattan. And indeed a goodly percentage of OpenAjax Alliance member companies are exhibiting at, speaking at, or sponsoring the show.

There isn't much more anyone needs to say right now about AJAX, RIAs, and Web 2.0 except this: Why not come to AJAXWorld in March and see/hear/try out AJAX for yourself?

The 100+ sessions cover every aspect of AJAX-enabled applications and those creating and deploying them. And the Web 2.0 track alone is to die for, with a lineup that includes Steve Rubel, Stowe Boyd, Hooman Radfar, Yuval Tarsi, Dean Allemang, Dion Hinchcliffe, Dustin Whittle, Coach Wei, Troy Angrignon, Andre Charland, and Alex Barnett.

See you in New York!