Does anyone (besides programmers) really like Ajax-based websites?

I’m mostly talking about email providers such as: Lycos, Excite, AOL, Yahoo.

They’ve all switched to ajax-based webmail. Some of them, like Excite, give you no option to ever have HTML again in their site.

But here’s the problem I’ve noticed: Ajax based sites are slow and clunky. It’s impossible to smooth-scroll, and you cannot easily go back and forth with things the way HTML lets you with the browser.

The only thing about Ajax-based websites is the prettier, more gooey feel to them, with what seems to programmers to be more options… but only at first till you try to use them as a user. Then the clunkiness kicks in.

So… who besides progammers likes that crap… and why? And if you do like it… how do you deal with the lack of ability to smooth-scroll down and up?

And my internet connection is fast as can be (ISDN) so this isn’t a connection problem. I realize everyone knows that slow connections can make Ajax-stuff work way slower.

And if you are a programmer… why are you guys addicted to pretty-but-clunky stuff like Ajax?