Google Launches Gears Open Source Project to Bring Offline Capabilities to Web Applications.At Google Developer Day, New Browser Extension A browser extension is a computer program that extends the functionality of a web browser in some way. Depending on the browser, the term may be distinct from similar terms such as plug-in or add-on. Provided to Developer Community SYDNEY, Australia -- Google Inc. (NASDAQ NASDAQ in full National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations U.S. market for over-the-counter securities. Established in 1971 by the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD), NASDAQ is an automated quotation system that reports on :GOOG GOOG Google, Inc. (stock symbol) ) today announced at Google Developer Day 2007 that it is providing developers with Google Gears A software platform from Google for running applications locally. Installed as a browser extension and accessed via JavaScript code, it provides a local server for caching Web pages and other HTTP resources so they can be accessed offline. [TM], an open source technology for creating offline web applications. This new browser extension is being made available in its early stages so that everyone can test its capabilities and limitations and help improve upon it. The long-term hope is that Google Gears can help the industry as a whole move toward a single standard for offline capabilities that all developers can use. Google Gears marks an important step in the evolution of web applications because it addresses a major user concern: availability of data and applications when there's no Internet connection available, or when a connection is slow or unreliable. As application developers and users alike want to do more on the web--whether it's email or CRM (Customer Relationship Management) An integrated information system that is used to plan, schedule and control the presales and postsales activities in an organization. or photo editing--enhancements that make the browser environment itself more powerful are increasingly important. "With Google Gears we're 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 in the cloud Refers to the operation taking place within a network. See cloud. ," said Eric Schmidt, Chief Executive Officer of Google. "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." Google is offering Google Gears as a free, fully open source technology in order to help every web application, not just Google applications See Google Apps. . As a first example of what is possible, the Google Reader Google Reader is a Web-based aggregator, capable of reading Atom and RSS feeds online or offline. It was released by Google on October 7 2005 through Google Labs. Reader graduated from beta status on 17 September 2007. [TM] feed reader (http://reader.google.com) is available today with Gears-enabled offline capabilities. Industry support Google will be working closely with all members of the web community to converge upon a standard so developers have one consistent API for offline functionality. "We're very excited to be collaborating with Google to move the industry forward to a standard cross-platform, cross-browser local storage capability," said Kevin Lynch Kevin Lynch may refer to:
"This announcement is a significant step forward for web applications," said Brendan Eich Brendan Eich (born 1961) is a computer programmer and creator of the JavaScript programming language. He is the Chief Technology Officer at the Mozilla Corporation. Education , CTO (Chief Technical Officer) The executive responsible for the technical direction of an organization. See CIO and salary survey. at Mozilla Corporation. "We're pleased to see Google working with open source and open standards bodies on offline web applications." "Opera and Google share the common goal of making Web applications richer and more robust," said Hakon Wium Lie, CTO, Opera Software. "Developers have long desired the functionality and flexibility Google Gears can offer browsers. Because Opera has always prioritized giving our users what they want, we're excited to work with Google to extend the reach and power of Web applications." Another tool in the application development toolbox Google Gears builds on the web's existing programming model by introducing new JavaScript APIs for sophisticated data storage, application caching, and multi-threading features. With these APIs, developers can bring offline capabilities to even their most complex web applications. Google Gears works with all major browsers on all major platforms: Windows, Mac and Linux. Google Gears is available now at http://gears.google.com/. About Google Inc. Google's innovative search technologies connect millions of people around the world with information every day. Founded in 1998 by Stanford Ph.D. students Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Google today is a top web property in all major global markets. Google's targeted advertising program provides businesses of all sizes with measurable results, while enhancing the overall web experience for users. Google is headquartered in Silicon Valley with offices throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia. For more information, visit www.google.com. Google, Google Gears, and Google Reader are trademarks of Google Inc. in the United States and/or other countries. Other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. |
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