If there is anything on web that can be stated as “fascinating,” it’s creating a Web application. After all, when was the last time you heard someone rave about the interaction design of a product that wasn’t on the Web? All the cool, innovative new projects are online.

The launch of high-profile Web services, notably Google Maps, which provided a noticeably better user experience than traditional Web sites, helped publicize the Ajax technique. Now, dozens of start-up companies are using it to create hosted versions of desktop applications, from word processors to project management software.

Google’s use of Ajax this year helped demonstrate how Web applications could rival the look and feel of existing desktop applications. Take a look at Google Suggest. Watch the way the suggested terms update as you type, almost instantly. Now look at Google Maps. Zoom in. Use your cursor to grab the map and scroll around a bit. Again, everything happens almost instantly, with no waiting for pages to reload.

Google Suggest and Google Maps are two examples of a new approach to web applications that we at Adaptive Path have been calling Ajax. The name is shorthand for Asynchronous JavaScript + XML, and it represents a fundamental shift in what’s possible on the Web.

Fortunately, Ajax really does seem to be a grassroots phenomenon and supports Web 2.0 software goals.