Dojo, now at version 0.3, comprises a set of packages--libraries--that provide a comprehensive set of functions and user interface widgets that developers can use to build interactive, highly dynamic Web applications. The toolkit is layered, with libraries specifically supporting the core scripting language, environment (HTML, styles, SVG and DOM), application support (logging, animation, RPC, and so on) and a widget toolkit.
IBM proposed the Eclipse Ajax Toolkit Framework to promote the adoption of Ajax in the development community and specifically will support Dojo, while Laszlo, Zimbra, Yahoo and even Google offer their own Ajax toolkits free for developers and enterprises alike.
Microsoft's arrival with its Ajax implementation, Atlas, represents a risk to Dojo and the alliance's goals in general, but it's tempered by the fact that Atlas is very tied to ASP.Net and Microsoft technologies, whereas Dojo and other toolkits are browser- and platform-agnostic. It's unlikely that a standards fight will ensue between Dojo and Atlas. In general, Dojo's future is bright despite Atlas, since Dojo is backed by some pretty big heavyweights, and Atlas is likely to compete against Microsoft's XAML. In the end, a lot of enterprises will use Atlas or XAML because they like Microsoft, and the wider development community will eschew both because Atlas and XAML are too platform-specific and will continue to use an open technology such as the Dojo.
Lori MacVittie is an NWC senior technology editor working in our Green Bay, Wis., labs. She has been a software developer, a network administrator and a member of the technical architecture team for a global transportation and logistics organization. Write to her at [email protected].
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