Gmail Offline Support

Did you know Gmail now has support for offline use? Neither did most people. They didn't make much noise about it, just quietly rolled it out to people's Gmail accounts as an option (click on the little green Google labs bottle in the upper right portion of the Gmail page) over a few weeks.

Some see this as Google's latest move in a battle with Microsoft for dominance of the business desktop. I think it's much simpler than that. I think this is the inevitable direction for all webapps. I can't find the reference on his site, but Joel Spolsky once wrote that it turns out to be easier to get connectivity anywhere (including on planes, he claims) than to manage synchronization of offline apps. Nevermind that Outlook has done it for years, Google is making it look easier and easier even for Webapps.

Like Google Reader before it, Gmail uses Google Gears to manage offline access and synchronization. And it makes a few improvements on the Reader model as well. For example, Gmail has something called Flaky Connection Mode that handles low-bandwidth or intermittent connections, allowing synchronization when possible in a seamless fashion. Also, once you have downloaded your email the first time, synchronization always happens when you are connected. This is better than Reader where you have to plan ahead for when you will be offline by downloading all of your feeds. Once "geared up" Gmail just seems to use whatever connection and whatever data is already available with no fuss.

Gmail also has a shortcut option that places an icon on your desktop, Quick launch bar or Start menu. This makes it easier to get access when offline without having to start your browser before you leave the network (something I could never get to work with Reader).

Gears is being adopted outside of the Google family as well. In addition to their nice little iPhone app, Remember The Milk is now Gears-enabled. If it weren't for some of their inherant UI limitations, this might make for the anyplace, anytime, any device task manager I've been searching for all these years.

Offline access and iPhone apps might seem like they are taking off in opposite directions. Really, they are aimed at the same problem. People want access to their data through their favorite apps anywhere, anytime. Access is the new must-have feature.