Why we use stuff like Flash and Java: persistent connections
Looks like Laszlo lets you use 'em, too (uh, here's the actual tutorial. Looks like it does a persistent connection to the presentation server, which then can do HTTP requests out. I wonder if we can just open a socket right from the Laszlo app. Or doesn't Flash let you do that?
Hmm, Flash definitely does sockets, although might force you to use a streaming XML protocol.