Treat with Jermolene

So, Google have finally stopped hinting and gone and launched Gears:

Google Gears (BETA) is an open source browser extension that enables web applications to provide offline functionality using following JavaScript APIs:

• Store and serve application resources locally
• Store data locally in a fully-searchable relational database
• Run asynchronous Javascript to improve application responsiveness

Which is marvellous stuff. Several people have pointed out that the requirement for a client side installation will slow down adoption. I’m not so sure; for quite a few people, the ability to work offline is plenty valuable enough to prompt them to install. And don’t underestimate the lengths that Google will go to to try to get their Google Pack on as many PCs as possible.

I’d very much like to experiment with using Gears as backend for TiddlyWiki; one thing I’m particularly curious about is whether offline applications are tied to the browser on which they were last used online.