Orcas, which goes into a beta release cycle in the first half of 2007, will have integrated support for Microsoft's ASP.Net AJAX technology, which is available in a beta release as of this week. Also, Orcas will feature JavaScript Intellisense functionality, which provides coding assistance, as well as syntax checking. JavaScript debugging support also is planned, according to Scott Guthrie, general manager of Microsoft's Developer Division, during a presentation at the Visual Studio Connections conference on Tuesday.

Other AJAX-friendly features in Orcas include a greatly improved HTML designer and rich CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) support. Microsoft also will bolster AJAX extender controls such as its extender for animation.

Another function planned for Orcas is a split-view capability, allowing for a design view and examination of source code at the same time. .Net LINQ (Language Integrated Query) capability is planned as well.

ASP.Net AJAX supports several browsers, including Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Safari. Opera backing is planned. Microsoft with its AJAX effort is tackling what has been viewed by some as the user-unfriendliness of JavaScript.

A conference attendee who has been using Microsoft's AJAX offering said he looked forward to the final product, which is due later this year. "Getting to a final release will be really important because it's changed a lot over the last year, fairly dramatically," said Steven Tucker, software engineer at medical device builder Boston Scientific. "Getting to a release that we know is not going to change is going to be helpful."