ASP.NET jQuery LINQ and AJAX

Howdy!

I found this article, which explains how to use AJAX, jQuery and LINQ with ASP.NET pages.  I have been wanting to dive into AJAX for quite a while but have been reluctant to learn .NET AJAX - since it is .NET specific.  I would prefer to spend my time learning AJAX that can be used with any web server language.

I love LINQ because it allows me to interact with my database enirely with C# and avoids lower level T-SQL which I find cumbersome. 

Thanks!

http://www.search-this.com/2010/04/26/asp-net-linq-jquery-json-ajax-oh-my/