Google Gears up for offline web apps

Google has launched a browser plug-in that will let people run web applications whether they're connected to the internet or not.

The company released the source code for the software - known as Google Gears - in conjunction with Google Developer Day, a daylong conference in 10 locations.

The goal of Google Gears is to create a single, standardised way to add offline capabilities to web applications, said Linus Upson, engineering director at Google.

The initial code is aimed at JavaScript developers who write Ajax-style web applications. It runs on Internet Explorer on Windows; Firefox on Windows, Mac OS and Linux; and on the Safari Mac OS browser.

Google expects to have a consumer-ready release of Google Gears, which will be under 1MB in size, "within months". It also expects to submit the code to a standards body so it will eventually be built into all standards-compliant browsers, Upson said.

He said: "It's been a long time since the web has gained new fundamental capabilities. I think it's been about 10 years." One of the key capabilities of Ajax development - XMLHttpRequest - came out in 1998 and took years to catch on, in part because of applications such as Google Maps.

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

He added: "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."

The first application to have offline access through Google Gears is Google Readers, the company's RSS reader. Once people install the browser plug-in, they can read RSS content when they're offline and synchronise with the RSS feed provider when they get back online.

As part of the announcement, Google said Gears has been endorsed by the Mozilla Foundation, makers of the open source Firefox browser, as well as Flash developer Adobe Systems and Opera Software, which makes the Opera browser.

By releasing the Google Gear code, the company hopes to get feedback from developers before releasing a consumer plug-in.

Martin LaMonica writes for CNET News.com