Google acknowledged last week that, sometimes, people aren’t connected to the Internet. Who knew? 
At Google’s first Developer Day, the company introduced free, open source software called Gears. It was a strategic turning point for the Web’s highest-flying company.
Google Gears will help developers make Web apps work in offline mode. Gears is a JavaScript API that works with a plug-in for most browsers.
To understand the significance of the move, look at a similar revelation Google had in 2005.
That’s when programmer Paul Rademacher reverse engineered some code in Google Maps to create HousingMaps.com, combining Google Maps with rental information from Craigslist.
That development convinced Google they needed to open up as an online platform. The company’s publicly available APIs led to today’s wave of mashups.
Google’s offline move sets up a confrontation with Microsoft, since the capability addresses a glaring weakness in many online apps, including Google’s.
Using Google Docs & Spreadsheets or Microsoft Word could become a matter of choice, rather than a matter of connectivity, not that anyone at Google would ever contemplate a competitor.
Google Gears makes browser-based applications more of a threat to Microsoft’s business model of getting people to pay for software.
Google is first applying it only to its Reader, which checks a person’s favorite Web sites and stores updates. Google’s mail, calendar and Docs & Spreadsheets applications are likely next candidates.
What’s cool about Google Gears is that any developer can use the platform to offline-enable their web apps.
I’m very excited that Google is opening up more ways for developers to build on Google data and infrastructure and by releasing Gears, Google is making it a lot easier.
Something to note is Google’s offline approach also is a recognition that Microsoft is right in insisting that not all computing will take place in the Internet cloud.
Microsoft’s been touting a vision of “software plus services” that relies on Internet-connected desktop apps and more enterprise software-as-a-service companies, such as CRM vendor RightNow, recognize the need for some client software.
Google’s get-together last week shows it’s paying more attention to developers. I can’t see this being a bad thing. Can you?
