Google Makes Web Work Offline Too

Google Inc. announced this week that it had created Web software that runs both online, and offline, marking a sea change for the Internet industry by letting users work on planes, trains, spotty connections and even in the most remote locations.

Google Gears allows users of computers, phones and other devices to manipulate Web services like e-mail, online calendars or news readers whether online, intermittently connected to the Web or completely offline.
Google plans to make the Gears technology available for free as 'open source' software, meaning other developers are free to use and enhance the software in their own products.

The technology also allows developers to build Internet search and indexing of Web pages into their own software applications.

Many such products will be able to make limited searches offline, since they will have downloaded data automatically when connected. Google's full Web search functions would return once the user reconnects to the Internet.
Analysts said Google's move capitalizes on a growing trend over the past couple of years for Web applications to behave as responsively as desktop software.
Microsoft already offers technologies like Groove, which allows users to work offline, then synchronizes changes when connected later. But the software giant has been reluctant to make existing products work both online and offline.

The first Google product to feature Gears will be Google Reader, which allows consumers automatically to track updates to hundreds of Web sites. Users could connect temporarily for updates, then go offline and read up on recent Web news.