Describes "JSONP". Basically, you COULD serve up JSON, but it's slightly more powerful if you allow the calling page to specify a prefix that you include in the returned JavaScript, so it can do things like storing it in a particular variable.
Did you know that you can access soap services via the Firefox browser? Neither did I. I don't like soap much, but getting an api in something we can program easily helps any technology. It also sounds like a huge security concern for anyone on the platform. Otherwise it's an interesting tool for developing interesting apps.
JavaScript, the programming language of the web browser, is not a secure language. Any script in a page has intimate access to all of the information and relationships of the page. This makes use of mashups and scripted advertising unacceptably risky.
The OpenAjax Alliance is an organization of leading vendors, open source projects, and companies using Ajax that are dedicated to the successful adoption of open and interoperable Ajax-based Web technologies.