With the talk about Web2.0, you'll hear people telling you about mash-ups and these cool new AJAX applications.

I always chuckle a little bit when I hear “AJAX“ and new.  Saying AJAX is “new“ is like saying “Screencasting“ is new  (anyone else use Lotus Screen Cam back in the 90s?)

AJAX isn't new, it's been around for close to a decade. Heck, O'Reilly published the first edition copy of “Dynamic HTML - The Definitive Reference” back in 1998.

But writing these apps was never for the timid.  I developed a few in 2000, and the development experience was far from ideal.  That development experience has gotten better recently with Atlas. 

“Atlas” is a codename for an extensible, object-oriented framework to facilitate AJAX-style web development, namely exploiting DHTML and asynchronous server communication to provide more interactive browser applications. It is implemented in JavaScript and helps abstract the variances across browsers and versions of browsers.

Since we have alot of cool new stuff coming out (WCF, WF, WPF, Infocard, Atlas, Expression tools, etc., etc.), Atlas might not be on your radar screen.

We actually released a CTP of Atlas back in March, and it actually came with a Go Live license so you both develop with it and put it into production.

I wanted to make sure you were aware of the WCF/Atlas sample code that was out there.  If you're used to WCF, it's a great first step on the road to building some really interesting AJAX-style apps. 

You can find the sample here. If you don't have Atlas installed yet, this site will be helpful.