One of the most interesting challenges faced by IT is the role of Web 2.0 in service-oriented architecture. This is caused in part by the fact that you can do Web 2.0 without service-oriented architecture, and you can also do service-oriented architecture without Web 2.0. And yet, the key question becomes should you or will you?

I've long gone on record as saying we need something better than the browser to truly deliver zero footprint Internet-based applications. We need an independent platform specification accompanied by platform-specific implementations that allow for the best of all worlds, not the least. The browser must die (I've said this before), and from its ashes we need a true application platform.

That being said, Web 2.0 is a step in the right direction. AJAX adds asynchronous communication and frees us from the dreaded refresh tag. That's not the only thing AJAX provides, but that alone makes the world a better place. We've long needed a way to get data back to the screen without having to repaint it. Seems simple, but look how long it took.