A composite is a material that is made from a number of other materials - at a minimum two, in which case one is usually a solid material, and the other a binding material which holds them together. The use of composites dates back into antiquity, with some of the earliest recorded uses being the mixing of clay and straw to make bricks. 

 

If AJAX is the binding material and Web Services are the solid materials then I wonder if we should call the mash-ups 'composites'.

Taking it one step further - perhaps they should really be termed 'compositions' - they are not prepackaged, codified plain vanilla applications - they really are creative expressions in their own right.

 

btw, what got me going with this was Nikhil Kothari's fabulous Virtual Places http://www.nikhilk.net/VirtualPlaces.aspx