Tuesday, Dec 1, 2009    Text size: 

For the uninitiated, Gears is a proprietary software system that Google developed to let users enable a battery of useful features offer through its slate of online applications.

For example, a Gmail user with Gears installed would be able to check and store emails offline, while other users could drag and drop files to upload and download them.

But with the release of Google Chrome web browser for PCs this year, as well as the unveiling of a Mac-compatible version, the search engine giant is shutting down the Gears project because it doesn't need it anymore.

Google's Chrome browser includes support for HTML5, the latest update to the core language of the Internet. To date, Gears had provided virtual support for HTML5-style web applications.

"We are excited that much of the technology in Gears, including offline support and geolocation APIs, are being incorporated into the HTML5 spec as an open standard supported across browsers, and see that as the logical next step for developers looking to include these features in their websites," a Google spokesperson said.

But not all versions of commercial web browsers support HTML5. Will users of those browsers be left out in the cold?

No. Google representatives said that they will continue to support Gears until HTML5 achieves widespread adoption.

"We're continuing to support Gears so that nothing breaks for sites that use it," a Google spokesperson said. "But we expect developers to use HTML5 for these features moving forward as it's a standards-based approach that will be available across all browsers."