Gears (software)

Infobox Software
name = Gears



caption =
developer = Google
released = 31 May 2007
frequently updated = yes
programming language =
operating system = Windows 2000, XP & Vista, Windows Mobile 5, 6, Mac OS X, Linux
language =
genre =
license = BSD
website = http://gears.google.com/

Gears, formerly Google Gears,cite web|url=http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/05/happy-birthday-google-gears.html|title=Happy birthday, Google Gears!|date=2008-05-28|publisher=Official Google Blog|accessdate=2008-06-11] is software offered by Google that "enables more powerful web applications, by adding new features to your web browser." [cite web|url=http://gears.google.com/|title=Gears|accessdate=2008-09-01] Released under the BSD license, [cite web|url=http://code.google.com/p/gears/|title=Google Code project for Gears|accessdate=2008-02-26] Gears is free and open source software.

Components

There are several major API components to Gears:
* A Database module (powered by SQLite) that can store data locally. [cite web|url=http://code.google.com/apis/gears/api_database.html|title=Database Module API|accessdate=2007-05-31 ]
* A WorkerPool module that provides parallel execution of JavaScript code. [cite web|url=http://code.google.com/apis/gears/api_workerpool.html|title=WorkerPool Module API|accessdate=2007-05-31 ]
* A LocalServer module that caches and serves application resources (HTML, JavaScript, images, etc). [cite web|url=http://code.google.com/apis/gears/api_localserver.html|title=LocalServer Module API|accessdate=2007-05-31 ]
* A Desktop module that lets web applications interact more naturally with the desktop. [cite web|url=http://code.google.com/apis/gears/api_desktop.html|title=Desktop Module API|accessdate=2007-05-31 ]
* A Geolocation module that lets web applications detect the geographical location of their users. [cite web|url=http://code.google.com/apis/gears/api_geolocation.html|title=Geolocation Module API|accessdate=2008-08-27 ]

Version history

upport

There are a number of web applications that use Gears. These applications come from a variety of companies, including Google (YouTube, Docs, Reader, Picasa), MySpace (Mail Search), Zoho (Writer), Remember The Milk, and Buxfer. [cite web
url=http://code.google.com/p/gears/wiki/GearsHistory
title=Gears History
accessdate=2008-06-28] WordPress 2.6 added support for Gears, to speed up the administrative interface and reduce server hits. [cite web | url=http://trac.wordpress.org/ticket/6965 | title=WordPress Trac ticket - Gears Support]

Gears can be enabled on sites where it is otherwise unsupported, by using a Greasemonkey script created by one of the Gears engineers. [cite web|url=http://code.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=81101|title=GearsMonkey: Google Gears + Greasemonkey to take Wikipedia offline|accessdate=2008-06-11]

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+ [cite web
url=http://groups.google.com/group/gears-users/browse_thread/thread/36537d4f47c5495c/59c3950739b83da6?show_docid=59c3950739b83da6
title=Gears for Safari beta
publisher=Google
accessdate=2008-08-26] and Firefox 1.5+ on multiple platforms [http://code.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=69201&topic=11629] .

On May 29, 2008, Opera ASA announced that the new Opera Mobile 9.5 will support Gears. [cite web
url=http://www.opera.com/pressreleases/en/2008/05/29/
title=Opera extends Gears support
publisher=Opera Software
accessdate=2008-05-29]

Gears on Rails framework supports interfaces to Gears without needing to understand the Google Gears API. [cite web
url=http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Application-Development/Google-Gears-takes-Ruby-on-Rails-Offline/
title=Google Gears Takes Ruby on Rails Offline
publisher=eWeek
accessdate=2008-07-15]

Gears is rumoured to be supported by Gmail in the near future. [cite web
url=http://googlesystem.blogspot.com/2007/09/gmail-20.html
title=Gmail 2.0
accessdate=2007-07-24]

ee also

* Mozilla Prism
* Rich Internet application
* Adobe AIR

References

Featured Projects

* [http://rememberthemilk.com/ Remember The Milk]
* [http://thn.gs/ Somethings (thn.gs)]
* [http://buxfer.com/ Buxfer]
* [http://zoho.com Zoho Writer]
* [http://WordPress.com WordPress]
* [http://passpack.com/info/home/ PassPack]

External links

* [http://gears.google.com/ Gears home page]