Flash vs. Ajax 2 - Summary of Existing Articles

Before I write much more on this topic, I thought it might be a good idea to take a look at what's already been written.

Mark, from O'Reilly Radar writes about the Macromedia presentation at this year's Ajax conference in SF, and the ensuing debate. It sounds like he had much the same reaction to this presentation as I did to the presentation at Flash Forward: Macromedia was trying to pitch Flash as a part of AJAX, but the subtext was that AJAX was potentially a threat. Key point: "The Ajax model makes Flash (and Java, and ActiveX) unnecessary for some kinds of interface models. When I first wanted to make, say, a dynamically updating table, Java was the only choice; later, Flash was a much more pleasing choice. Now, Ajax/JavaScript offers a number of advantages over Flash: faster load time, consistent interface with the rest of the browser, a standard/free HTTP server backend, and broader development tool support."

JonathanBoutelle.com has a post the pros and cons of both platforms. He feels that the technologies complement each other, and can co-exist. This is, I think, one of the first articles that was posted on the issue.

JD on MX has only a brief post, but it spawns an interesting debate in the comments.

Mary Jo at Microsoft Watch discusses Microsoft's interest in Ajax. They could be the 500 poind gorilla that changes the shape of the playing field. IE7 comes out later this year. I predict much of the future of the Ajax Movement may turn on the success or failure of this browser.