OpenAjax Woos Microsoft, Plots 2007 Goals

"They look at this point like they'll probably join," said David Boloker, IBM's CTO for emerging technologies and the chair of OpenAjax's steering committee. "They're going through the legal documents."

A Microsoft spokeswoman confirmed that the Redmond, Wash., company is in discussions with OpenAjax about joining the group. Recruiting Microsoft would give OpenAjax an unusually broad membership encompassing several of the industry's fiercest rivals, including Sun Microsystems, IBM and Oracle, along with open-source organizations such as the Eclipse Foundation and Mozilla.

AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript and Extensible Markup Language) is a catchphrase describing the bundle of technologies that a new wave of Web applications use to mimic the look and feel of desktop software. Coined in early 2005 in an essay by Adaptive Path co-founder Jesse James Garrett, AJAX has become a cornerstone of modern Web development. The OpenAjax Alliance launched last February with an amorphous set of goals but a clear philosophy: Its 15 founders pledged to work together to ensure that AJAX evolves as an open, universally compatible technology set.

Since then, the consortium has drafted a road map and begun work toward deliverables in two areas: technical and marketing. A white paper posted in September on OpenAjax's Web site tackled the issue of defining AJAX and detailing some of the specifications and technologies it includes. The group also has formed task forces to study IDE integration, server integration, AJAX security issues and the possibility of a client-side OpenAjax module to mediate client-server communications.

One of the first tech projects OpenAjax will deliver is the OpenAjax Hub, an effort to align disparate, first-generation AJAX libraries. Hosted at SourceForge, the OpenAjax Hub is an open-source project governed by the Apache 2.0 license that OpenAjax has adopted for all of its work.

OpenAjax's Apache choice and intellectual property rights policy are spelled out in the Members Agreement it drafted in May and adopted in October. The agreement has cost OpenAjax a few of its founders, although their disappearance may be temporary. Five of OpenAjax's creators -- Google, Red Hat, BEA Systems, Borland and Yahoo -- aren't currently members of the organization. But for some of those companies, the gap is simply a matter of bureaucratic lag.

"I'm mailing the membership agreement as we speak," said Ed Cobb, BEA's vice president of architecture and standards. Google said it's reviewing the membership agreement and supports OpenAjax's goals, and Borland's new developer tools subsidiary, CodeGear, said it sees OpenAjax as an important AJAX hub and is evaluating its future participation. Only Yahoo is staying mum on its OpenAjax estrangement. A Yahoo spokeswoman said the company is no longer an OpenAjax member and has no further comment on the organization. Still, even they may come around, according to Boloker. "There's nothing negative coming back from any of the companies. They tell us [the Members Agreement] is just sitting in the lawyers' offices."

OpenAjax hasn't spent much time chasing its wayward members, since it's too busy welcoming new ones. Some 60 organizations have formally joined the group, and about half send representatives to the consortium's planning meetings. The next strategy gathering is scheduled for March in New York, to be held after the AJAXWorld Conference and Expo.

"A big theme for 2007 will be figuring out a strategy, rolling it out and having industry adoption," said Jon Ferraiolo, an IBM Web architect who has been heavily involved in OpenAjax's administration.

OpenAjax participants say one of the group's main accomplishments is simply its existence. By bringing major vendors together to commit to AJAX and discuss its future, OpenAjax helps legitimize AJAX as a major force in Web development, Laszlo Systems Chief Marketing Officer Kent Libby said.

"The biggest challenge is having people aware of the possibility that AJAX presents, then translating that awareness to adoption," Libby said. "I think the alliance can do even more on education and awareness." Laszlo Systems, which makes an open-source platform for delivering Web applications, has been an OpenAjax member since the group's creation.

BEA's Cobb echoed the view that OpenAjax plays an essential role in providing the hub connecting those interested in furthering AJAX. "This seems to be the center of gravity for AJAX at the moment," he said. "It's worth staying involved and seeing how it goes."