Six of the Web's brightest and best minds - Google's Adam Bosworth (pictured here just before he shaved off his beard), Laszlo Systems founder David Temkin, coiner of the term 'AJAX' Jesse James Garrett, Paul Rademacher of HousingMaps.com and Google, Web 2.0 Journal editor-in-chief Dion Hinchcliffe and Microsoft MVP Sahil Malik - wrestled with a host of issues in the "AJAX Power Panel" that rounded off last a sold-out "Real-World AJAX" One-Day Seminar event in San Jose, California.

Delegates peppered the panel with questions that revealed a passionate commitment to A Better Web on both sides of the microphone. And the significance of the "Real-World AJAX" One-Day Seminar was never more clear than at this session: AJAX has helped energize and embolden the thousands of individual developers and architects whose innovation and talent is daily being catalyzed by an approach which lets mashups flourish and fosters a user-centric focus that raises the bar of usability and richness for the good of all.

Is AJAX the sole reason that "Web 2.0" is sweeping everything before it? Not necessarily, Bosworth not surprisingly used Gmail as a classic example - if brand-new applications can be classics after just 2 years - of how simplicity is what is driving Google's success, rather than "Ajaxiness" per se. 

"Our approach to technology at Google is very simple. We launch a new feature or application and then watch it very, very closely. If users like it then we add more of that type of feature or functionality, and if they don't like it then we add less of it."

In response to a question from the audience Bosworth noted that Yahoo! Mail had done a very good job recently of overhauling its rival to Gmail, but was adamant that adding technology for technology's sake, whether AJAX for AJAX's sake or anything else, just wasn't in Google's (of how own) nature.

In October AJAXWorld Conference & Expo in Santa Clara, Californoa will be extending a three-day program, making it one of the most-awaited events of the year.

The series has already established its reputation as having its finger on the pulse of AJAX and Web 2.0 and the whole industry-disrupting sea change toward "rich media," Rich Internet Applications, the one-page Web, call it what you will. Speakers have already included what is almost a "Who's Who" of top practitioners, from Jesse James Garrett who kicked off the whole AJAX phenomenon by giving a name to an approach that has existed for years without one to technology geniuses like Bosworth whose move to Google, after Microsoft and BEA, seems to have coincided with its busting into life as the major use case of Real-World AJAX on the entire Web, first with Gmail then with Google Maps.

Other Faculty members to date on the "Real-World AJAX" Faculty have included: Bill Scott (Yahoo!), David Heinemeier Hansson (Ruby on Rails), Christophe Coenraets (Adobe), Jouk Pleiter (Backbase), Ross Dargahi (Zimbra), Kevin Hakman (TIBCO General Interface), Eric Miraglia (Yahoo!), Alex Russell (Dojo Foundation), Shanku Niyogi (Microsoft), Scott Dietzen (Zimbra), Sahil Malik (telerik), Rob Gonda (iChameleon Group), Dave Crane & Eric Pascarello (Ajax in Action).

With IBM joining the event as a Gold Sponsor, the lineup of charter sponsors and exhibitors of the conference now comprises some of the leading AJAX technology providers in the world, including Adobe, IBM, TIBCO, Backbase, ComponentArt, Helmi Technologies, Laszlo Systems, Nexaweb, telerik, Google, Parasoft, ILOG, Apress, and Zapatek.

OASIS is sponsoring AJAXWorld 2006 as Association Sponsor, while the Media Sponsors include some of the most well-known and respected magazines and websites; SYS-CON.TV and AJAXWorld Magazine are the two Platinum Media Sponsors. Other Media Sponsors include: BZ Media, DevTown Station, Eclipse Developer's Journal, Eclipse Review, Enterprise Open Source Magazine, Integration Developer News, ITtoolbox, Java Developer's Journal, Methods & Tools, Enterprise Open Source Magazine, Open Enterprise Trends, Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance Journal, SD Times, Software Test & Performance, SOA Web Services Journal, Web 2.0 Journal, and Web Developer's & Designer's Journal.