Professional Developers Conference in Los Angeles, Microsoft demonstrated its Atlas development software for Ajax-style programming. An early preview is now available. Using Dynamic HTML (DHTML) and asynchronous server communications, Atlas offers server-side extensions to ASP.Net and client-side scripting libraries in JavaScript that work on many browsers and platforms, according to a Microsoft representative. This is intended to make it easier to build rich Web experiences.

Microsoft is compelled to offer an Ajax solution, said analyst John Rymer, vice president of application development and infrastructure at Forrester Research Inc.

"It fills a gap within their development environment. They didn't address Ajax at all," Rymer said. "I think a lot of people are overestimating Ajax, how valuable it's going to be. But a lot of people are using it, and Microsoft just had no answer."

He added that Ajax is just scripting. Although flexible and easy, it is difficult to maintain applications written with scripts because of a lack of structure, he said. "It's not a silver bullet."  "Full Article" "More Here"