Comments on: Mobile Ajax, Google Gears on mobile and Offline browsing

By: Ajit Jaokar

Ajit Jaokar — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 01:43:47 +0000

hello martin, keep me posted re yr book. happy to blog about it when its out kind rgds Aj

By: Martin

Martin — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 08:33:02 +0000

Hello Ajit,
thanks for this very interesting blog post! What an interesting coincidence as I am just working on a chapter of my new book in which I discuss that web 2.0 applications in the web browser need some way of storing information locally and executing locally when there is no network coverage. I think this is especially important for applications such as a calendar that must be executable even when there is no network available. It is just not acceptable to look at an empty browser window
Thanks for providing excellent references, I can no go into more detail then I originally intended.
I am especially interested in the security model since I can see a lot of good things one can do with it but also stuff I don’t want, e.g. JavaScript advertisement apps to spy on me by storing information in a local database to detect which sites I visit, etc. Also I can see a lot of good things that can be done when web apps could access local information like contacts, GPS info, etc. but again, the security model must be both very strict and easy to handle as I would only allow very few applications to access this kind of data.
Thanks again,
Martin

By: Ajit Jaokar

Ajit Jaokar — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 00:30:27 +0000

many thanks for this Alan. I know of this event since it was organised by Dan and Jon but could not attend it. Thanks for this link kind rgds Ajit

By: Alan Tai

Alan Tai — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 18:33:26 +0000

Hi Ajit, dunno if you saw this already, but the W3C Mobile Web Initiative recently sponsored its first workshop on Mobile Ajax:
http://www.w3.org/2007/06/mobile-ajax/report.html
There’s a lot of good discussion on all your points, including architecture, offline, and security. Dave Burke also talked about Google Gears for mobile.

By: Ajit Jaokar

Ajit Jaokar — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 14:39:33 +0000

Thanks Anne, Ian, Stefan. Ian – I have sent you a seperate email rgds Ajit

By: Anne van Kesteren

Anne van Kesteren — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 11:40:14 +0000

The HTML5 APIs are heavily incluenced by Google Gears and feedback from the Gears team at Google. I believe they are planning to adopt the HTML5 APIs in due course.

By: Ian Hickson

Ian Hickson — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 10:05:01 +0000

Actually, HTML5 is aimed at the Web in general, both on desktop and mobile, and anywhere else you might find it. We’re trying to remove the distinction.
If you have any feedback on HTML5 we’d love to have it, especially if you don’t think it’s addressing the needs of the mobile space. You can send mail to our mailing lists (public-html@w3.org or whatwg@whatwg.org) if you’re subscribed, or, if you don’t want to subscribe, feel free to just drop me a mail directly (I’m the spec editor): ian@hixie.ch
Cheers!

By: Stefan Constantinescu

Stefan Constantinescu — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 04:50:16 +0000

Actually Nokia is already implementing something called the Web Runtime with their next edition of S60 that will allow devices to do what you just said: http://www.intomobile.com/2007/11/27/widgets-the-s60-web-run-time-what-is-it-and-how-can-i-use-it.html
Motorola, in their next version of Linux, is also working on a web runtime.
What you want requires platform level support, something that even the mighty google will have a hard time with unless they pull a Yahoo 2 Go and build a mobile application platform in which developers work.
Who knows, too early to tell, but I agree with your basic logic that Google Widgets + Open Social + Google Gears for Mobile makes the most sense. The key is the implementation.