What’s so great about Google Suggest?

Keith posted an interesting article countering the hype generated by Google Suggest & GMail - Google Suggest and GMail are a step backwards

I think there are two things which makes Google Suggest interesting.

People now realize there is a way to use javascript for live update of sections in a webpage, which for some strange reason they didn’t find out earlier!

And I think the implementation is pretty decent (read fast) in duplicating a client side application functionality in a web application. And what is so great about it?

For one it is easy to install (none) and use web applications. So more power to web applications, the better it is. People are getting more adjusted to the web paradigm. They want to do everything web-based. Most of the applications designed today are web based. For advanced interactivity in a web application the choices are limited:

• Java Applet
• Flash
• Other plugins like SVG
• Java Server Faces or similar technology
• Java Script

Of these Javascript is the least powerful (ugly duckling) and yet most widely available. So any additional capability for the ugly duckling is good overall.

And talking about innovation. Google is definitely innovating. You may not like it, it may not be the best, but it surely is raising the bar.
At least someone is innovating for a change among the giants!

Interestingly it also shows viability of Java Server Faces like technology, specially with more widespread availability of better bandwidth for consumers.