GMail going offline? Impending death of Microsoft?

Google Gears is a breakthrough open source technology introduced by Google few months back. It eliminates a requirement of “always on” internet access. The possibilities it presents to application developers are innumerable.

Companies like Zoho have already gone offline with certain online applications and it will not be long before most of the apps follow the same direction.

According to the news published in Hindustan Times, GMail is going offline, very soon. Although, there is no way to confirm the authenticity, this is very much a possibility and logical next step for Google.

Hindustan Times says:

According to highly placed sources, Google has developed an offline version of Gmail. Gmail Offline will allow users to browse, reply, save drafts and do everything that currently Gmail does in an offline mode even when you don’t have an Internet connection. On current indications, this would mean that you would download a software client for this. When you get online your Gmail client would automatically synchronise (sync) with the Gmail server (network computer) and send and receive e-mail. A Google spokeswoman in India officially denies such a thing but there is ample evidence to believe Gmail Offline is in fact a reality and may soon be hitting a browser close to you. This has tremendous implications for corporate e-mail, but more on that later.

The ground for Gmail Offline was set on March 31 this year when Google launched Google Gears, an open-source technology platform under which software developers could create offline Web applications. The following three features that Google Gears provides are noteworthy – and here is where the framework for Gmail Offline is based.

A local server, to cache and serve application resources (HTML, JavaScript, images, etc) without needing to contact a network server. Think of it like a box in which you can put your household goods while moving house while waiting for a packer’s truck to arrive.

What does this mean?

Incidentally, I published a post recently asking “Are Web Applications replacing Desktop Softwares?”, and my take is that we are moving pretty fast in that direction.

It will not be long before all online apps of Google, like calendar, notebook, and email will have an offline version. When ever a user goes online, it will sync up the data progressively. Where then is the need for user to have applications like Microsoft Office? Google is taking on Microsft in a big way and in most cases winning handsomely!

Would you shell out $500 for Office 2010 Pro if Google Apps were roughly comparable, available online and offline, and completely free? Probably not. That’s why Office will surely leave its desktop roots behind for the Web at some point in the not-too-distant future.

Yes, security is an issue for corporates and business users to start using these online / offline web apps. However, it should not be long before giant like Google tackles that by creating a secure environment for their business users.

You should also read:
Gears of War : The new Google product that could augur the death of Microsoft