Google Offline Gmail Arrives

Image via CrunchBase

One of the best things about the offline functionality for Gmail that Google is rolling out is that it won't require users to download any new applications.

Built with Google's Gears developer language, it works within the browser, which users can of course open even if they find themselves without an Internet connection.

As Google's official blog explains:

Gmail uses Gears to download a local cache of your mail. As long as you're connected to the network, that cache is synchronized with Gmail's servers. When you lose your connection, Gmail automatically switches to offline mode, and uses the data stored on your computer's hard drive instead of the information sent across the network. You can read messages, star and label them, and do all of the things you're used to doing while reading your webmail online. Any messages you send while offline will be placed in your outbox and automatically sent the next time Gmail detects a connection.

Not only does this level the playing field for corporate Google App users who have been eyeballing customers of Zoho and Yahoo Zimbra jealously for months, it also helps SMBs and SoHos which use free Google products and have been limping along with an online-only client.

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Of Web 2.0, Netbooks and the End of Software

Here is how cloud computing is going to swamp traditional software into irrelevance:

First came Web 2.0, followed closely by Enterprise 2.0.

Members of Generation Y are entering the workforce in increasing numbers, bringing with them a 21st century version of the work ethic. They believe in working hard for long hours, but also in mingling work with pleasure. Pleasure as in browsing videos or chatting with friends.

So Gen Y brought Web 2.0 into the workforce, and smart managers adapted rather than fight them. The iPhone phenomenon is only one example of this amalgamation of forces: it's popular because it integrates pleasure and utility more gracefully than any other smart phone.

The App Store is driving even more Web-based application development than ever--and that's an incredible statement in itself. The nascent software-as-a-service industry has grown from plucky upstart to business-as-usual in less than two years, creating enormous opportunity for Web developers on a plethora of platforms, from Silverlight to Air, not to mention Chrome and iTunes.

There is no doubt that the ubiquity of Web-based applications is causing end users to wonder why they need to lug heavy and expensive laptops around when everything they need is in the cloud. If only those Treos and BlackBerrys were a little bigger and a little more powerful...

I've already mentioned why I don't think Apple is going to come out with a Netbook--it already has one in the iPhone.

But with the combination of Chrome and Android, Google has finally lifted the veil on its strategy to take the desktop productivity fight to Microsoft: by creating a sub-environment within the Internet that makes online applications not only as good, but in many cases, better and more enjoyable to use than conventional desktop software.

Ah yes, that word again: enjoyable. Just as with the iPhone, if enough people want to bring it into the office, IT will find a way to accommodate.

Nokia, Sun Highlight IT Woes

It looks like tech isn't immune to the downturn after all. After Intel issued a somber warning earlier in the week, other bellwethers piled on with somber announcements of their own.

Nokia, whose 40% handset market share represents more shipments than the next three handset suppliers combined, took a hard look at recent demand, gulped, and predicted that fourth-quarter industry volumes will decline by about 20 million phones and that next year's shipments are likely to decline as well.

The contagion from this will spread to other sectors, as Nokia said it will cut spending on outside contractors and other professional services, according to InformationWeek.

Meanwhile Sun announced that it will cut up to 18% of its workforce, meaning more than 5,000 employees will lose their jobs. CEO Jonathan Schwartz said that the company is also making significant organizational changes, including the departure of Rich Green, Sun's top software executive.

Schwartz is putting a good public face on the changes by blaming the economy for the company's troubles, but most analysts believe the company was adrift in any case and that this shake-up was coming either way.

Sun may come out of this healthier, but like many of its peers, a lot smaller. ZDNet's Larry Dignan notes:

Sun said that its “new organizational alignment is a recognition of the comprehensive role software plays in the company’s growth strategy.” That’s where you get the Sun paradox–Sun makes most of its money from hardware. The transition is likely to be painful: Sun will have to get smaller as it transforms.

Om Malik outlines the specific changes Sun is making, but has a somewhat rosier view: "leaky oil tankers take a long time to sink, so there is enough time to patch stuff up."

The effects of the downturn aren't limited to hardware vendors. Even Google's seemingly relentless rise may be slowing; reviewing a handful of new analyst notes, Silicon Alley Insider's Henry Blodget says that while no one has turned bearish on the stock, "the tone has changed."

A short-term view is that customers will end up paying lower prices, but there's a cost. As customers cut spending and vendors react by cutting resources, R&D is the first line-item to suffer. And in the long run, that means less innovation and longer road to recovery.

And as John Maynard Keynes famously said, "in the long run we're all dead."