SVG is the Future of Web Application Development. AJAX brought us web 2.0, but scalable vector graphics and javascript will bring us the next generation of web-based, fully interactive applications. Pay special attention to Sun's Lively Kernel, which gives you a good glimpse of what this technology can do for the web. Note that the Lively stuff will not work in IE, which still doesn't support SVG. Safari works best, FF almost as well.