Static pages no longer fill the bill, because they can't adapt rapidly enough to changes in client capabilities and form factors. You need to write code just to determine which type and version of client software is requesting a page. Clients aren't just browsers anymore. More than that, server pages themselves are mutating into objects and function calls. We're at the edge of an era when refreshing an entire browser page just to update the contents of a portion of that page will no longer be a viable option.
People prefer to have dynamic, interactive content.
Likewise, they will prefer applications that don't have to change pages constantly. Browsers and other HTTP clients are already adapting to this new paradigm. XML-aware clients can request data in the background and, using XSLT, transform that XML data into a display appropriate for the requesting device. By separating the data from the display, you can serve the same data to clients with disparate display requirements. For example, you may have a list of downloadable file links stored in a database.