Learning future web technologies

[intellix]

With the start of 2008, we're likely to see some new web technologies appear or already common ones flurish and be used more widely

At the moment i currently use html, css, asp and sql to create a data driven website but lately ive been looking into other technologies that are around. I've noticed the term AJAX used quite frequently and ive seen many people use XML and ASP.NET

What are the advantages of using whatever and where does the future look like its heading? I can see the web is evolving from standard user experiences to "Web rich applications" that try to immerse the user as much as possible

Lets hear what you think...

 

[intellix]

Well anyway, what are the advantages and disadvantages of each web technology and what website scenarios would you consider using them for etc?

Looking at the Microsoft website where you can click the buttons on the bottom of the page and the content to the right changes without having to refresh the browser, what is that? Thanks