Google gearing up

Posted on | June 21, 2007 | 1 Comment

Google Docs, Zoho, the promised online version of Photoshop, all the Web 2.0 applications that roll off the assembly line by the week: these and so many other online applications are the most visible evidence of the seemingly inexorable shift to the Web. As more and more applications move onto the Web, and as the functionality and complexity of these applications increase, as they undoubtedly will, so our ties to the client-based software that we have lived with for so long will loosen. Of course, as these ties loosen, so our dependence on the Web, on the reliability and resilience of this global network of networks, increases.

That inexorability will only prove to be concrete if the Web proves itself to be a consistent and wholly dependable platform. We have come to depend to a fair extent now on the reliability of the laptop or desktop or handheld as platforms for knowledge creation, communication, collaboration – for work and for fun! Until that high level of trust in the Web is achieved – until the Web becomes another utility alongside electricity, water and gas – the key pleayers in the field will be keen to find ways to mitigate as much of the user’s risk in exploiting online applications as possible.

That is why Google Gears, which, to some, might appear to be a watering down of the shift to online applications, or even as a tacit acceptance of the inevitable longevity of the client-based app, is actually a pretty clever move from the residents of Mountain View CA! Google Gears adds a helpful layer of trust to the Google Docs services. Gears makes it easier to use Google Docs because it makes it safer to use the online apps – less need to worry about accessing important files whenever and wherever access to the Web is a problem.

And, of course, it is just one more modest gear-change (sorry!) by Google in the long term, and oft-denied, aim to dethrone its rival in Seattle.

Technorati Tags: google, google gears, microsoft, Web 2.0

Category: Web 2.0

Comments

One Response to “Google gearing up”

AB
June 21st, 2007 @ 8:43 am

As we become more and more reliant on the web, and our wifi coverage seems to be ever-increasing, it’s great to see the big players looking at taking things out of the browser allowing you to access data off-line. Adobe AIR is looking at just that. This could provide the capacity to keep sensitive data off-line, but used in some form of validation/communication in online environments?