Googles new offering : Google Gear

Google Gear will enable developers to create off line web applications using JavaScript APIs. It is available in Beta version as an open source browser plugin for browsers upwardly compatible to Firefox 1.5+ and Internet Explorer 6.0+.

This plugin ensures the developer to create application with the assurance that it will work offline and online across browsers. The 700K download of the plugin for Firefox 1.5+ and Internet Explorer 6.0+ installs three developer APIs.

• API to handle the creation of data objects to store application information locally,
  
• A SQLite relational database for storing and searching the data locally, and
  
• final part will enable asynchronous JavaScript so applications can sync data in the background without overburdening the browser.

The release will be for Windows platform initially and later for Linux and other OS platforms.