Earlier today we explained how HTML5 will change the way you use the web, including how HTML5-supported offline access handles basically the same functionality as Google’s Gears browser plug-in. It seems that Google’s well aware of this fact, too, and the Los Angeles Times is reporting that Google is “letting the sun set” on Gears:
Today Gmail Labs released a new feature that bridges the gap between desktop and web-based applications like never before: Offline Gmail. You can now access your Gmail from your browser any time, whether or not you’re online.
If you’re a regular visitor to MySpace and you haven’t already installed Gears, you might as well go ahead and do so before the site starts nagging you to get it. MySpace has used Gears for a while to provide localised message stores, but has only pushed the option to users with more than 5,000 messages stashed away. At today’s Google Developer Conference in Sydney, MySpace revealed that it will shortly lower that threshold, prompting anyone with more than 2,000 messages. Shifting to Gears enhances your ability to sort and manage messages, which sounds like something anyone with 2,000 messages could use. Gears is supported on Windows, Mac and Linux (principally via Firefox, including 3; IE is fine, Safari is, at this moment, not).