Microsoft went public today with some great new information regarding Atlas, including the product name. (Hint: it's not "Atlas"). Developers who've worked with Atlas know that it consists of two frameworks: one on the server side and one on the client side. The server-side framework, which is officially titled "ASP.NET 2.0 AJAX Extensions," offers the most bang for the buck and supports the control-based programming model familiar to ASP.NET developers. UpdatePanel, the most popular component of Atlas, is part of the server-side framework. Like other server-side components, UpdatePanel emits "goo" that leverages the client-side framework.

The client-side framework, which richens the browser as a development platform while insulating devs from browser DOMs and providing a browser-agnostic programming model, will henceforth be known as the "Microsoft AJAX Library." Significantly, the client-side framework does not require ASP.NET on the server. PHP developers and ColdFusion developers can leverage the client-side framework almost as easily as ASP.NET developers. They simply write server-side code that emits the same "goo" as Microsoft's server-side framework (er, the ASP.NET 2.0 AJAX Extensions).

The names aren't sexy, but they're accurate. I know a lot of folks at Microsoft who wince when they speak these names, but over time, we'll all get used to them.