The new software means people working on Web applications can continue to work offline even when they lose the connection, or if a connection is not available – like on airplanes.
Called Google Gears, the open source software was launched as part of Google Developer Day 2007. The new browser extension is being made available to developers in its early stages so its capabilities and limitations can be broadly tested to get the kinks out.
The company said Google Gears was an important step in the evolution of web applications because it addressed a major user concern: availability of data and applications when there’s no internet connection available, or when a connection is slow or unreliable.
As application developers and users alike want to do more on the web—whether it’s email or CRM or photo editing—enhancements that make the browser environment itself more powerful are increasingly important.
“With Google Gears we're tackling a key limitation of the browser in order to make it a stronger platform for deploying all types of applications and enabling a better user experience in the cloud,” Google chief executive Eric Schmidt said.
“We believe strongly in the power of the community to stretch this new technology to the limits of what’s possible and ultimately emerge with an open standard that benefits everyone.”
Google is offering Google Gears as a free, fully open source technology in order to help every web application, not just Google applications.
The company said it had been working closely with third-party developers in the design of Google Gears. It wheeled out representatives from Adobe, Mozilla and Opera Software in support of the system.
“This announcement is a significant step forward for web applications,” said Mozilla Corporation chief technology officer Brendan Eich. “We're pleased to see Google working with open source and open standards bodies on offline web applications.”
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