AJAX sets off tools race

The increasing popularity of interactive Web sites has set off a race among software companies, each pitching their own development toolkit. 

Sun Microsystems arleady released a free tool for building Web applications that promises to speed up AJAX-style development; Java Studio Creator 2. IBM is expected to announce plans for selling AJAX tools.

Accotding to Burton Group analyst Richard Monson-Haefel it's just a matter of months before all major IDEs, including Eclipse, support AJAX development.

In the past year, a number of high-profile Web services, such as Gmail and Microsoft's Virtual Earth, have built their front end using AJAX. The technology allows people to drag and drop items around and create "mash-ups" that pull information from different Web sites.

Do you want to learn more about AJAX? Check out the DMXzone.com AJAX e-book.