Google To Make GMail Offline This Year?

The latest buzz in the blogosphere is the question on whether GMail will be getting offline. The news first appeared in a Hindustan Times article on September 13th. Some of the interesting bits of the article include:

"According to highly placed sources, Google has developed an offline version of Gmail. Gmail Offline will allow users to browse, reply, save drafts and do everything that currently Gmail does in an offline mode even when you don't have an Internet connection. On current indications, this would mean that you would download a software client for this. When you get online your Gmail client would automatically synchronise (sync) with the Gmail server (network computer) and send and receive e-mail. A Google spokeswoman in India officially denies such a thing but there is ample evidence to believe Gmail Offline is in fact a reality and may soon be hitting a browser close to you. This has tremendous implications for corporate e-mail, but more on that later.

A local server, to cache and serve application resources (HTML, JavaScript, images, etc) without needing to contact a network server. Think of it like a box in which you can put your household goods while moving house while waiting for a packer's truck to arrive.

In the AJAX version done by independent developers around January, a small download of between 100 kb to 300 kb a button comes on the upper-right corner in a Web application saying "Work Offline." Two months later, Google launched its Gears programme – echoing the AJAX practice.

Gmail offline perhaps targets Outlook in the hope of securing the offline domination of e-mail from Microsoft. According to well-placed sources, Gmail Offline is likely to be launched within this year and this will likely add to Microsoft woes already reeling under repeated attacks from Google."

Time will tell what the future of GMail is. As for now, if this is a reality, the offline version of GMail has to brave Windows Live Mail Beta.

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