Around two years ago, Google released a new product “Google Gears.”  The main goal was to increase web applications accessibility to client’s computers, therefore increasing possible functionality.  In Google’s  own words:

“Gears is an open source project that enables more powerful web applications, by adding new features to web browsers.”

Google Gears is basically two parts: a browser extension that a user has to download and install; as well as a JavaScript library that a developer would include on a web page.  This allows a web developer to use extra features not normally available.

Below is a summary of these features:

Desktop

• A few simple desktop functions (i.e. the ability to create a desktop icon)

Geo-location

• Wi-fi geo-location functionality; iPhone apps presently offer this feature

Database

• A basic install of sqlite locally allows web apps to store information in a local database. This is an interesting feature, but it can add synchronization issues.  Having a single database is one of the nicer parts of coding web applications.

Local Server

• Google Gears installs a mini server locally that again can be used by the web developer.  Combining this with the local database would allow a web application to run offline.  Gmail is an example of this, but again, it complicates the web application.

Timer

• An advanced (and much more accurate) browser timer.

Javascript Worker pool

• This is another interesting feature that provides a developer with the ability to run resource-intensive JavaScript in the background, separate from any of the user interface, therefore preventing extra rendering time.  However, it is somewhat limited as it has no access to the DOM and requires a separate function set to use Ajax.

All and all, Google Gears has some “idea” potential, but has basically flopped.  Development seems to be stagnant and no news has been posted.  It appears as though it was a push to increase the value of their Gmail and Google Docs products that has fizzled.  Google Gears is not even available on Chrome, Google’s own browser.   It may be resurrected with the unveiling of the Google OS.  Either way, this user would like to see some of the more basic features available in new browser releases.

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