While AJAX, as XML co-inventor Tim Bray puts it, 'tries to do everything in the browser using just what the browser ships with,' RIA frameworks like Adobe AIR, Microsoft Silverlight, and JavaFX aim to take developers beyond the limitations of the browser. 'I'm not brave enough to predict who wins,' Bray notes, 'but I do predict that 2008 will be a crucial year; either RIAs enter the mainstream, or they start to smell like a red herring left in the sun.'

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