Isis Systems

Google Gears: allowing offline-enabled Web apps

The main drawback of Google Apps was the need to be online to use them.  Google is launching Google Gears,  an application that can be downloaded and installed locally.  With Google Gears, users will be able to access Google applications even when they aren't connected to the Internet. The most impresive move is that they are launching the tool as an Open Source application.

Google Gears (BETA) is available for Windows, Mac, and Linux

According to CNET Networks: “Gears is a browser extension that will enable people to access their Web applications when working offline. It works on all major browsers and operating systems, and can be used by developers to make any application offline-enabled, not just Google programs.”

To see the developers guide:

Google Gears API Developer's Guide (Beta)

The first program released in Gears is Google Reader, this will allow a user to manually download the most recent feeds into their personal computer in order to read them offline.  Maybe the next releases will be Gmail, Calendar, Docs & Spreadsheet.  Google Reader was developed by a Google engineer who wanted to review his news feeds while traveling. The growth of the "offline-enabled" applications will be huge, either from Google and from independent developers, due to the fact that Gears is Open Source (with thousands of developers arond the world contributing with new applications).

You can see more info in this YouTube video:

Jorge I. Blanco

Google Docs is great but there are other options...

For the ones that are not comfortable with the features of  Google  Docs, there are other Web 2.o applications available.  One of them is  Think Free   which provides text editor, spreadsheet and presentation software with the same look and feel of MS Office.  They offer a webtop (like a desktop but in the Web) with 1GB capacity. There is group editing and group sharing.

They offer four products:

• ThinkFree Online:  Manage, access, and edit documents over the internet. Get the best Microsoft Office compatibility available. Share and get everyone's input on your story, schedule, or marketing materials.
• ThinkFree Desktop:  Word processing, spreadsheet and presentation applications that let you create and edit Microsoft Office format documents. Compatible with Windows, Linux, and Macintosh systems.
• ThinkFree Server: Run ThinkFree on your servers. Easy centralized maintenance and a lower license cost reduce TCO. Edit remote documents online while providing security behind your firewal.
• ThinkFree Portable:  Office on the go. There are two versions:
  
  • It runs on U3 USB memory devices. The software runs on the portable device without worrying about the applications on the host computer you are using at the moment.
  • There is another portable version for iPods.  The software loads from the iPod into the memory of a computer that the iPod is connected to, regardless of whether the computer is running Mac OS X or Windows.

The first product is free, the other three are sold with license prices between $30 and $49 USD.

Jorge I. Blanco

Why Web-Based Applications?

Now that the Isis team is moving to Google Apps, some one can ask why use we use web-based applications - What are the advantages relative to desktop applications. Its a long story but let me make some comments about this. I found this is infomation that can be useful to understand what are WEB APPS..

Im going to be one of the examples, i have already installed in my Lap Top the Office suite from Micrsoft, because sometimes i need it, but normally i use  Google docs and spreadsheets for my needs and most of my task.

One nice thing about online
applications is that they are updated automatically, so you are always
using the current version. Collaboration and universal Web access to
your work are two other pluses.

• Viability of the vendor. Will the vendor be
  around in the future, or will it and your data disappear? We are lucky
  that some of the players are really big, such as Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) and Yahoo (Nasdaq: YHOO) .
  It is probably best to stick with one of these. I would not hesitate to
  bet that the readers of this column probably have an alternate online
  e-mail account from Google, Yahoo, MSN , AOL, etc.
• Data privacy. We don't seem to worry
  about this with the big boys, but it would be fairly easy for someone
  to post an application to compile e-mail lists or even infect a user's
  computer with spyware
  or adware. Again, larger and more stable sites probably have more
  safeguards in place to protect your data and computer from hacking,
  viruses and identity theft. (Hah -- from recent news let's hope that
  they have better safeguards in place than federal government agencies!)
• Speed of use. High-speed computers
  and high-speed connections work best. Even with a really fast
  connection, many of these applications seem to be slower than an
  application residing on your computer. CF and I have both had Web-based
  applications time out on us.
• Price. Most of these online
  applications are not free. They may have an initial free trial period,
  but many charge a monthly or yearly fee after that. Many offer
  non-profit and academic pricing.

Now. there are a lot of web applications now running over the web, and for a very accesible price, or even free, let me tell you what can be a good formula for your computer or laptop and WEB APPLICATIONS.

You can have your computer with Linux, any Distribition, and you will have Open Office by Default, notice that comes with  every linux distribution, and for windows you need to purchase MS Office for $300 US Dolars, an then you can have both Web apps and Desktop Office aplications, nomally the files you most need you can create in Web apps and save it like Open Ofice or PDF, and you can modify that  file and upload to the web when you are connected again, normally people use Word Processors like Word processor, not need that  millions of functions that comes with MS office, and believe me this is only the  beginning, there are WEB BASE, databases, videoconfernce, CRM, Bussines Intelligence etc..

hope this be usefull for all..