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.
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 browser-based innovat...
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 Protocol (HTTP). It's ...
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 corporate interests driv...
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 developers, I get along w...
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 during a discussion, appare...
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 collect a 'wish list' ...
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' both brings security chal...
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 Hilary Clinton) will d...
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 lightweight (10KB without gzi...
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 adds methods to built...
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 components to inter-operate w...
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 of customers have been ...
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 Monday. The software know...
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, no, that was last yea...
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 OpenAjaxHub already (suc...
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 fairly well attended. My ...
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 on March 21 2007 sayin...
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 events on the title ba...
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 scratch. From a Model-Vi...
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 the server side. It was re...
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 a little bit. Adobe...
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. Dylan Schiemann from Dojo ...
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 great to catch up with...
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 the server side. It was re...
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 headquarters by notebook PCs...
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 is not different eithe...
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, we will go over some ...
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 and functionality of d...
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.
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.
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 serve HTML Web pages. Som...
'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 entire web page does n...
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.
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 paradigm shift he calls the ...
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 peak between two adja...
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 bluntly outlines the b...
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. What is the additiona...
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 a competitive perspec...
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 reactions. In particular, I ...
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 enabling bi-directional comm...
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. 
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 browser-based innovat...
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 corporate interests driv...
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 developers, I get along w...
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 during a discussion, appare...
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 collect a 'wish list' ...
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' both brings security chal...
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 Hilary Clinton) will d...
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 adds methods to built...
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 components to inter-operate w...
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 of customers have been ...
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 the server side. It was re...
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 paradigm shift he calls the ...
