A reader made this comment about my last post:.

AJAX is an old technology that is rightly named XMLHTTPRequest, and the term ‘AJAX’ is just a lame attempt and trying to make an old function seem cool. I guess the term ‘XMLHttpRequest’ is too nerdy, and thus not cool enough for the Web2.0 elite…. AJAX is the one and only way a non-technical business user can drop highly interactive functionality? Why does a business user need to be programming in the first place? You’re not making any sense, per usual the Web2.0 nerd.

That is an important question. Why does a business user need to be programming in the first place?

Empowering end users is the main point behind Web 2.0 and Web Office. Web 2.0 advocates have realized that end users do not want pre-packaged solutions. Instead, they want tools that they can use to build their own solutions.

That is why, today, some much business is done with the aid of spreadsheets. A spreadsheet is an IDE for knowledge workers.

An IDE is an Integrated Development Environment. Software Engineers use IDEs to write applciations. I my opinion, business users create whole applications using Excel. They build budgeting tools, forecasting tools and even project management tools. I have seen the most amazingly complex analytical software built in spreadsheets. For example, most people trading financial derivatives use spreadsheets to price things like interest rate swaps, caps and floors.

Ultimately, most knowledge workers are not like factory workers. Knowledge workers do not just do the same thing over and over again. That means they don’t need software that automates a process.

Instead, knowledge workers (aka end users), are constantly trying to solve new problems. This constant need to innovate means that knowledge workers don’t want big static end solutions. Instead, they want small tools that they can use to build their own solutions.

The cool thing about AJAX Badges is that they mean you can combine services from multiple different vendors. A Flickr badge, a 3Bubbles badge, a who links to this site Technorati badge. So far, not all of them are interactive, but 3Bubbles proves that more soon will be.

Web 2.0 in the enterprise is about giving knowledge workers the tools to build their own solutions. Enterprise blogs and wikis let knowledge workers communicate more efficiently with words. But these knowledge workers will want more. That’s why they have been turning to tools like basecamp.com. I call it Web Office. It is going to change the way people work. And it is all Web 2.0.

Is it literally programming? I’m not sure. Is building a derivatives pricer in Excel programming? As I said in my last post, it would be great if tools like MovableType, Wordpress and SocialText could be be modified with plug-ins so that business users do not have to “code”, but instead can just drag and drop. But when an software engineer uses an IDE to create a button or a pull-down menu, usually, all they do is just drag and drop. Is that programming? Maybe answering that question doesn’t really matter.