Presentation: "The Web Platform"

Time: Wednesday 10:45 - 11:45

Location: Fleming Room

Abstract: A few years ago, Web developers discovered that browsers had hidden within them a few capabilities that when properly utilized could redefine the state of the web application art. Initially referred to as 'Ajax', these technologies have gone from being simple hacks into becoming the foundation for an exciting new client platform--the Web Platform. While Ajax was initially about wringing a bit more power out of stagnant browsers, times have changed: browsers are evolving at impressive speed, to say nothing of the Internet-speed evolution of the libraries built on top of them. In this session, Ben Galbraith and Dion Almaer--the founders of Ajaxian.com and Co-directors of Developer Tools at Mozilla--discuss the state of the Web Platform, including a look at the latest technologies and a peek over the horizon at what's to come. Attendees may find the talk a liberating experience.
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Ben Galbraith, Ajaxian.com

 Ben  Galbraith

Ben Galbraith is a frequent technical speaker, occasional consultant, and author of several Java-related books. He is a co-founder of Ajaxian.com, an experienced Chief Technical Officer and Enterprise Java Architect, and is presently co-leading a new group at Mozilla focusing on developer tools for the Web.

Ben wrote his first computer program when he was six years old, started his first business at ten, and entered the IT workforce just after turning twelve. For the past few years, he’s been professionally coding in Java.

In 2005, Ben delivered over a hundred technical presentations at venues including JavaOne, JavaPolis, and the No Fluff Just Stuff Java Symposiums.

Dion Almaer, Ajaxian.com

 Dion  Almaer

Dion Almaer is the co-founder of Ajaxian.com, the leading source of the Ajax community. For his day job, Dion co-leads a new group at Mozilla focusing on developer tools for the Web, which is something he has been passionate about doing for years, and is excited for the opportunity! Dion has been writing rich web applications from the beginning, and has been a columnist on various topics at ONJava, TheServerSide.com, openxource.com and of course his blog at almaer.com/blog.

He enjoys writing, and speaking at events such as JavaOne, Web 2.0 Expo, Future of Web Apps, Google I/O, JavaPolis, TheServerSide Symposium, and createdThe Ajax Experience . He also participates on the Java Community Process expert groups, and the open source community as a whole.

He enjoys the new Internet media that allows him to connect with the community, and thus created Audible Ajax, recently launched the Open Web Podcast with other industry gurus, and founded the Google Code Review show.

If you want to keep up with him, follow along on Twitter, or FriendFeed.