Google Gears Allow Software Programs To Function Offline

Millions of people use free online software programs that deliver news, email and a host of other services on a daily basis. While these programs make information and communication easier than ever before, they are still limited in their use to only when the individual is online. (Source: techmeme.com)

That's all about to change!

In an effort to test the limitations of the Internet once again, Google is attempting to make many free online applications, like their popular G-mail and spreadsheet programs, available offline for users who experience trouble connecting to the Internet. (Source: nytimes.com)

Industry analysts agree that an implementation of resources in the development of this new technology is symbolic of Google sending out an open challenge to Microsoft, whose popular software programs include Word and Excel.

The rivalry between Google and Microsoft was heightened recently when Google announced the future release of a set of tools specially designed for independent software programmers, called Google Gears. The tools address what is largely considered the single most critical shortcoming of online software: an active Internet connection.

Google Gears can be used by all programmers, whether employed by Google or not, in an effort to enhance their own online programs for offline use. Google intends to release the new technology in an open-sourced model, so that programmers can use the tools free and test its abilities to suit their own personal programming models.

Google is planning to host an international release party, calling it the company's first ever "Developer Day", where Google intends to present itself not as the world's most used search engine or as the biggest advertising company, or even as the creator of successful applications like G-mail, but rather as the provider of tools that others can use to build their own programs. (Source: nytimes.com)

Still, those companies who rely on Microsoft's software programs to complete their tasks have said that the new Google Gears appears to lack the support and functions that most businesses need to conduct themselves on a daily basis.

If Microsoft addresses the challenge issued by Google, only then will the race for online/offline programming supremacy officially begin.