Released in late May this year, Google Gears is a way for web applications to have the feel and richness of a desktop application. Using the Gears plugin, a web application can cache resources and maintain a database locally, and have enough AJAX running in the background to make you believe it is actually a desktop version. One can, for instance, read RSS feeds in Google Reader without having an Internet connection.
Up until now the only two browsers that the Gears project ran on were Firefox and Internet Explorer, the former being the only option for the Mac. However, an early beta, which Google warns will most probably break your browser, shows that the good people at Mountain View are looking after their Mac customers.
The minimum system requirements are Safari 3.1.1 on Tiger 10.4.11 or Leopard 10.5.3, although we’re not sure if it works with the Safari 4 Developer Preview. Also, Safari for Windows and iPhone are still out of the loop. Jeremy Moskovich, a Google engineer, has put up an instructional on how to go about things.
So if you are the daredevil type and don’t mind messing up your system for the excitement of trying out fledgeling software, here’s a direct download link to the BETA. I repeat that again, it’s in “beta”. And not the Gmail type beta either—this is the real, raw deal. Tread with caution.
