Two trendy software development technologies, Asynchronous JavaScript and XML (AJAX) and agile programming, are being advanced this week with rollouts from Tibco Software Inc. and Rally Software ...

Microsoft at its Professional Developers Conference in Los Angeles demonstrated its Atlas development software for AJAX-style programming. An early preview is now available.

Simplification of AJAX programming is needed, he stressed. There also is a lack of good AJAX programmers. You might have to go through 20 candidates to find a good one, Boloker said.

While opinions on the scripting technology vary, Microsoft is offering related tools, and ClearNova has revamped its entire product line around it.