AJAX has become a popular technique for building rich Internet applications. Microsoft's offering in this arena is the former Atlas technology.

The beta offering is available in three download options, said Scott Guthrie, a general manager in the Microsoft Developer Division, in his blog (http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/archive/2006/10/20/ASP.NET-AJAX-Beta-1-Released.aspx). These include the following:

-- A "Core" download, with features to be fully supported by Microsoft including the core AJAX-type system, networking stacking, and component model.

-- A "Value-Add" CTP download with higher level features that were in previous community technology preview but not fully supported in the 1.0 core. Over time, features will be moved into the core download.

-- A Control Toolkit, with 28 free controls built on top of the core download.