AJAX vs client server applications?

Question

What advantage does AJAX have over standard client server applications that use HTML and HTTP?

Thanks.

Answer 1

It allows you to communicate with the server (and optionally update the page) without leaving the page.

(That is also its disadvantage, as it breaks bookmarking, linking, etc)

Answer 2

AJAX is just an asynchronous method to update a web document, or part of it, without a full page refresh.

The main advantages are for rich web applications, which can be made to show up-to-date information in realtime, and handle more like traditional desktop applications.