Matt Haughey on the ‘Ajax’ Name Mini-Controversy

Matt Haughey:

But what baffles me most is that programmers are missing the big picture. Yes, XMLHttpRequest has been around for years, and ajax is just a pretty term for DHTML and javascript, but the beauty of the term ajax is that we now have an easy way to sell the technology. I know engineers have a natural fear of anything and anyone in the marketing world, but now that managers, VC, and funders all know what ajax is and that users want that kind of application interaction, they’re much more likely to pay for it.

Well said. I’ve seen numerous nerds griping that ‘Ajax’ is just a vapid new name for XMLHttpRequest, but, well, names do matter.

★ Monday, 18 April 2005