Google will offer free technology under the name “Google Gears” to allow developers to start building web apps that will can work even if they are not connected the Internet. Google will offer it as a free, fully open source technology in order to help not just Google applications but all Web applications.

Eric Schmidt, Chief Executive Officer of Google, said, “With ‘Google Gears’ we are 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. 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.” 

The Google Reader feed reader (http://reader.google.com) is immediately available with Gears-enabled offline capabilities.

Ultimately, the company will move to make other programs work offline and online – such as Google’s e-mail, calendar, word processing, and spreadsheets.

“It’s been a long time since the Web has gained new fundamental capabilities. I think it’s been about 10 years,” said Upson. One of the key capabilities of Ajax development–XMLHttpRequest–came out in 1998 and took years to catch on, in part because of applications like Google Maps.

Google engineers took on the task of bringing offline access to Web browsers because customers of its hosted Web applications complained about not being able to work when disconnected, Upson said.

“One of the reasons we’re doing Gears is that developers here at Google have really pushed the envelope on what can be done in the browser so engineers are hitting barriers harder and faster,” he said.

Google kicks offline Web apps into gear | CNET News.com.

This is exciting. With Adobe’s new moves in this area, and now Google’s move in this space. This is exciting and significant in the world of software applications. This is game changing in my opinion.

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