Sure, I totally understand that for many applications AJAX would be overkill. I understand the beauty of simplicity, and the appeal of light widgets. But with

Sure, I totally understand that for many applications AJAX would be overkill. I understand the beauty of simplicity, and the appeal of light widgets. But with that said, AJAX is almost never used, and there are many widgets that could benefit by being more than a bunch of static links. Blog widgets are usually more interesting when they are interactive. AJAX does that.