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Gears

 
Computer Desktop Encyclopedia: Google Gears
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A software platform from Google for running applications locally. Installed as a browser extension and accessed via JavaScript code, it provides a local server for caching Web pages and other HTTP resources so they can be accessed offline. It also includes an SQLite-based database for storing local data and a "WorkerPool" module that allows JavaScript code to run in the background. Google Gears was introduced in 2007 for the developer community. See Google.

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Wikipedia: Gears (software)
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Gears
Gearslogo.png
Developer(s) Google
Initial release 31 May 2007
Stable release 0.5.32.0 [1]  (2009-07-28; 4 months ago) [+/−]
Operating system Windows XP & Vista, Windows Mobile 5, 6, Mac OS X, Linux 32bit
License open source (BSD)
Website http://gears.google.com/

Gears, formerly Google Gears,[2] is software offered by Google that "enables more powerful web applications, by adding new features to your web browser."[3] Released under the BSD license,[4] Gears is free and open source software.

In late November 2009, numerous online news sources reported that Google is going to migrate to use HTML 5 rather than Gears in the future. A Google spokesman later clarified that Google will however continue to support Gears to not break sites using it. [5]

Contents

Components

There are several major API components to Gears:

  • A Database module (powered by SQLite), which can store data locally.[6]
  • A WorkerPool module, which provides parallel execution of JavaScript code.[7]
  • A LocalServer module, which caches and serves application resources (HTML, JavaScript, images, etc).[8]
  • A Desktop module, which lets web applications interact more naturally with the desktop.[9]
  • A Geolocation module, which lets web applications detect the geographical location of their users. [10]

Version history

Version Date Description
0.1 2007-05-31 Initial release as Google Gears.
0.2 2008-02-22 [11]
- 2008-05-28 [2] Project renamed to Gears to reflect the open source, collaborative nature of the project.
0.3 2008-06-11 [12] Introduced ability to add desktop icons, support for Firefox 3.
0.4 2008-08-22 [13] Geolocation API / Event handling for upload / download transfer progress, localization in 40 languages
0.5 2008-11-24 [14]

Updated SQLite, Geolocation can now get data from WiFi antennas, Improved API to manage data blobs on LocalServer

Support

There are a number of web applications that use Gears. These applications come from a variety of companies, including Google (Gmail, YouTube, Docs, Reader, Picasa for mobile, Calendar, Wave), MySpace (Mail Search), Zoho (Writer, Mail), Remember The Milk, and Buxfer.[15] WordPress 2.6 added support for Gears, to speed up the administrative interface and reduce server hits. [16]

Gears can be enabled on sites where it is otherwise unsupported, by using a Greasemonkey user script one of the Gears engineers has created.[17]

Gears is supported on Google Chrome and IE 6+ on Windows XP and Vista, IE Mobile 4.01+ on Windows Mobile, Safari 3.1.1+ on Mac OS X 10.4+[18] (though not with Safari 4 on Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard; with no sign of a fix anytime soon[19]), and Firefox 1.5+ on multiple platforms[20]. There is only limited 64 bit support from 3rd parties.

Gears does not support attachment files with sizes greater than 2 GB under Mac OS X Leopard or Snow Leopard currently due to a bug in the Blob handling code.[21] [22]

On May 29, 2008, Opera ASA announced that the new Opera Mobile 9.5 will support Gears.[23] The technology preview release of the browser was published on February 20, 2009.[24] It is currently available for touch-screen devices on Windows Mobile 5 & 6 only.[25] Gears is not built into browsers other than Google Chrome and must be downloaded separately.

The Ruby on Rails framework supports interfaces to Gears without needing to understand the Google Gears API.[26]

See also

References

  1. ^ http://code.google.com/p/gears/source/detail?r=3391]
  2. ^ a b "Happy birthday, Google Gears!". Official Google Blog. 2008-05-28. http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/05/happy-birthday-google-gears.html. Retrieved 2008-06-11. 
  3. ^ "Gears". http://gears.google.com/. Retrieved 2008-09-01. 
  4. ^ "Google Code project for Gears". http://code.google.com/p/gears/. Retrieved 2008-02-26. 
  5. ^ "What's powering Web apps: Google waving goodbye to Gears, hello to HTML5". Los Angeles Times. 2009-11-30. http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2009/11/google-gears.html. Retrieved 2009-12-02. 
  6. ^ "Database Module API". http://code.google.com/apis/gears/api_database.html. Retrieved 2007-05-31. 
  7. ^ "WorkerPool Module API". http://code.google.com/apis/gears/api_workerpool.html. Retrieved 2007-05-31. 
  8. ^ "LocalServer Module API". http://code.google.com/apis/gears/api_localserver.html. Retrieved 2007-05-31. 
  9. ^ "Desktop Module API". http://code.google.com/apis/gears/api_desktop.html. Retrieved 2007-05-31. 
  10. ^ "Geolocation Module API". http://code.google.com/apis/gears/api_geolocation.html. Retrieved 2008-08-27. 
  11. ^ http://gearsblog.blogspot.com/2008/02/gears-02-released.html
  12. ^ http://gearsblog.blogspot.com/2008/06/fly-gears-03.html
  13. ^ http://gearsblog.blogspot.com/2008/08/gears-04-is-here.html
  14. ^ http://code.google.com/apis/gears/upcoming/history.html
  15. ^ "Gears History". http://code.google.com/p/gears/wiki/GearsHistory. Retrieved 2008-06-28. 
  16. ^ "WordPress Trac ticket - Gears Support". http://trac.wordpress.org/ticket/6965. 
  17. ^ "Gearsmonkey: Gears + Greasemonkey". http://code.google.com/apis/gears/articles/gearsmonkey.html. Retrieved 2009-08-13. 
  18. ^ "Gears for Safari beta". Google. http://groups.google.com/group/gears-users/browse_thread/thread/36537d4f47c5495c/59c3950739b83da6?show_docid=59c3950739b83da6. Retrieved 2008-08-26. 
  19. ^ "Issue 847: Mac: Gears not working Safari 4 - Snow Leopard". Google Code. http://code.google.com/p/gears/issues/detail?id=847. Retrieved 2009-09-05. 
  20. ^ http://code.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=69201&topic=11629
  21. ^ http://code.google.com/p/gears/issues/detail?id=960&q=snow%20leopard&colspec=Version%20Milestone%20Owner%20ID%20Summary%20Component
  22. ^ http://code.google.com/p/gears/issues/detail?id=958&q=snow%20leopard&colspec=Version%20Milestone%20Owner%20ID%20Summary%20Component
  23. ^ "Opera extends Gears support". Opera Software. http://www.opera.com/pressreleases/en/2008/05/29/. Retrieved 2008-05-29. 
  24. ^ "Technology preview: Gears-enabled Opera Mobile 9.5". Opera Software. http://labs.opera.com/news/2009/02/20/. Retrieved 2009-02-21. 
  25. ^ "Gears-enabled Opera Mobile 9.51b2 download page". Opera Software. http://www.opera.com/mobile/download/?man=Windows+Mobile+5.0+Pocket+PC&ver=9.51b2_gears&heading=Windows%20Mobile%205/6%20Pocket%20PC&img=/bitmaps/products/mobile/platform/951b2.gif&extra=Touchscreen-based%20devices%20only.%20Visit%20http://gears.google.com%20to%20download%20the%20Gears%20plugin%20for%20Opera%20Mobile.%20Last%20updated:%2019.%202.%202009. Retrieved 2009-02-21. 
  26. ^ "Google Gears Takes Ruby on Rails Offline". eWeek. http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Application-Development/Google-Gears-takes-Ruby-on-Rails-Offline/. Retrieved 2008-07-15. 

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