Icefaces is an open source Ajax framework for developing RIA for the web. The applications are structured the same way as JSF applications, but with added Ajax features. In this article there will be a short description of the biggest differences between the IT Mill Toolkit 5.2.0 and Icefaces 1.6.2 based development of RIAs.
From a technical standpoint Ext GWT and SmartGWT are quite equal apart from the fact that Smart has more to offer on the server side. Vaadin with its complete different apprach (not from the programming style but from runtime behavior) needs to be compared in a different fashion. Things like GUI responsiveness and overall performance must be carefully checked. But on the pro side you have a very small js client with vaadin which results in fast startup in the browser. On the other hand, our product is a business product and we are planing to rewrite the AdminConsole. This is something that will be used in intranets in 95% of the time. It doesnt make much of a differnece if you load 100k or 1Mb from inside the LAN.