It just provides you with a set of new server-side tools you can use to implement flicker-free page updates.
You can, for instance, keep the same traditional Web architecture, add some flicker-free updates here and there, and then take time to refactor some key features in a service-oriented manner.
It's just a cool way of enhancing legacy applications with some AJAX capabilities-the most important of which is flicker-free page updates.
