The beauty of Google Gears

June 20, 2007 at 9:48 pm | In design, innovation, technology, trends | Leave a Comment

Slate highlights the newest experiment from the Google Labs — Gears. A browser plug-in for both Firefox and Internet Explorer, Gears allows web developers to unplug their programs from the Net. So far, the only applications I’ve noticed embracing the tool are those profiled in the Slate piece — Google Reader and Remember the Milk. Luckily, those happen to be two of the most useful tools in my online kit. The process is still a little quirky for each of them, but I really like where it’s going.

And even in its infancy, I think that this is an important development. The day is coming when we all be online, all the time. But until we get there, this ability to go offline with our browser-based programs is exactly what we need — when we’re on the road, in rural or non-wired areas, during power outages and emergencies.

Firefox 3 is set to have this sort of capability built-in (allowing every program that runs in the browser to go offline), and I’m willing to bet the house that Google is working to add this functionality to Gmail, Docs & Sheets, and every other program in the lab.

Think about what this will mean in a device like the iPhone or even a Blackberry. Even with the additional range they add, there will be times when even they can’t get connected. That you can keep working offline, and then synch back up as soon as the device picks up a signal could mean the difference on a deadline or in an emergency.

And as the Slate writer mentions, this could be the death knell of the operating system.

I have a hard time not getting excited about that.

– mc

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