From my own point of view, OpenLaszlo’s LZX has been Ajax since the day it was born– about six years ago. It happens to compile to SWF, but what you write is Asynchronous Javascript + XML, which is the definition of Ajax. Of course, historically, OpenLaszlo compiles LZX to (Flash) .swf, so the Flash engine, not the browser, is what ultimately executes the program. If the definition of Ajax is that the browswer executes just exactly what javascript that the programmer writes, then OpenLaszlo isn’t Ajax — nor is it likely to be Ajax anytime soon, since there will always be a compiler involved (unless and until an LZX runtime appears on the scene.)

So, does “Ajax” refer to source language or to the target runtime? Well, that’s a theological question, I guess, but Jesse James Garrett, the so-called coiner of the Ajax term, has said in several venues that OpenLaszlo is Ajax, and I tend to agree with him. LZX is proper XML and ECMA262 Javascript. It just so-happens that it’s compiled. Does that make it non-Ajaxian ipso facto? I don’t see why, myself.

But really, who cares? I’m not trying to win a debating point because it’s not a point worth debating. I’m just pointing out that the term is ambiguous, and many people don’t think “Ajax” == “DHTML”. I think OpenLaszlo is every bit as Ajaxian as anything out there, for example DoJo, but that’s not what’s important. What’s important is what it is and what it can do for you. In other words, it should be judged on its merits, not on its buzzword conformance.

As for its source tree compiling to DHTML, there are two OpenLaszlo branches. The 3.n branch compiles to SWF only.

The Legals branch, however, compiles to swf and DHTML. http://weblog.openlaszlo.org/archives/2006/06/introducing-legals/
Now, the legals branch is not recommended for use in developing applications; it’s a “snapshot” release that is there so interested parties can see how it works and the direction it’s going. Under current schedules it will be a few more months before it’s fully baked. But it’s there under SVN, it’s open source, it’s free, and it compiles to DHTML.

Disclosure: I’m the OpenLaszlo documentation guy.