Business users are clamoring for web-apps that can behave more like client-server/desktop applications. The current hope seems to be on AjAx. But because JavaScript is not a systems language, and because MicroSoft will probably not fix IE JavaScript problems if it risks their desktop dominence, Ajax has a fairly good chance of failing, I hate to say.
What would come next in order to obtain better GUI's? Some possible scenarios:
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A new standard GUI-centric protocol
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Expanding sales of prioprietary tools such as Flash forms.
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Tools like VisualBasic and Delphi will be rebuilt like a browser in their own right with potential for automatic updates, just-in-time domain code transfer, etc.
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JavaApplets will be given a second try.
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Web applications will be written in a new way and then machine-translated down to the current hodgepodge of web technologies.