Google Announced Google Gears today, a new set of open source technologies that allows web applications to work ‘offline’ in a disconnected mode. This could be a HUGE benefit for Google (and other Web Applications) as they compete against Microsoft with their online suite of office-like applications.
One of the biggest complaints of web-based applications is “What if my Internet connection is down, or if I am on an airplane? ” Gears solves this problem by installing a local server and database, and allows for for ‘caching’ of data and applications for disconnected use.
This is still an early beta of the technology, but this is a great step for extending the web to mobile, offline use. The API is available now, and allows 3rd party developers to use the Gears technology in their web application.
More Coverage: