Ajax and .NET (from: Tim Anderson)
http://www.itwriting.com/blog/?postid=159 | Comments
Michael Schwarz has written an Ajax wrapper for ASP.NET. Before you do anything else, I suggest you check out one of the usage examples, like this source code viewer by Scott Watermasysk. A very smooth application, no page flashing. In essence, Michael’s wrapper lets you call server-side .NET methods within client-side Javascript, running asynchronously to enable a better user experience.
Should Microsoft offer an official Ajax library for .NET? On the one hand, there’s no need since you can use Michael’s wrapper or take your own approach. On the other hand, since .NET and Ajax work so well together, it would be worth bringing into the mainstream of .NET development. You can vote here.
The downside of Ajax is that it makes more demands on the client - in other words, more compatibility problems. For the right application, it is worth it.