jQuery started out as a side project of Mozilla Javascript Evangelist John Resig. It was released at a meeting of BarCamp New York and has won widespread support from everyone from Microsoft and Nokia to a wide range of independent designers.

What does jQuery do? Its tag line is "the write less, do more Javascript library" and it's a favorite of many developers working on cutting edge and visually dazzling designs. Want to see some examples? Check out our coverage of the crowd pleasing blog comment system Encouraged Commentary and Drew Douglas's The 20 Most Practical and Creative Uses of jQuery.

If you're a developer and you haven't tried out jQuery yet - you probably should. As Jennifer Stuart wrote when she finally did this Spring, "Why I didn't jump on this bandwagon sooner, I'm not sure, but I am kicking myself for it."

With the addition of the jQuery code to the nonprofit Software Freedom Conservancy, companies using the code are far more free from fear of lawsuits for using it. For details on that development and a number of new technical additions to jQuery, see the announcement on the jQuery blog.