![]() ![]() ![]() The catch with Gears is, of course, that it’s still brand new, there’s nothing besides some small demos to indicate how well it will work, and no telling how widely it will be embraced by developers on the whole. Gears is open source, so developers aren’t limited to what Google cares to offer as an offline Web app … they can build their own. Support for the extension is currently available for Firefox 1.5 or higher on OS X, Linux and Windows or Internet Explorer 6 or higher on Windows. Google’s been wondering about the same issues, since it just last week released Google Gears, a browser extension that will allow Web apps to run offline by executing in a browser with no Internet connectivity and by storing app data on the client machine. And, he said, it’s just not going to matter in a few years, when connectivity is much closer to ubiquitous. While he said some sort of offline version would be available by the end of the year, he also told me he considers offline versions of hosted Web apps more of a “comfort” offering for users than anything. Or even when one is just dealing with a slow link from a saturated public access point or a low-end consumer grade connection. One complaint common to productivity users who are interested in such apps is how one’s expected to get at them when there’s no ‘net connection available. I also chatted briefly with Vegesna regarding Zoho’s plans to launch offline versions of its suite. (where cost and an “anything but Microsoft” attitude are bigger considerations). Vegesna said most of Zoho’s user base, as a result, is still largely consumer-based, with 30 percent of it being students and 55 percent living outside the U.S. Where Google has gone ahead and launched Google Apps with an available $50-per-user-per-year premium edition aimed at businesses who want some service guarantees, Zoho has yet to offer anything comparable. And Zoho is clearly the more publicly ambitious of the two, considering the breadth of its offerings.Īnother key consideration is how both relate to businesses. Based on my tour of both suites, that seems about right. Vegesna didn’t say much about that either, except when he noted that where Google has spent a lot of time integrating assorted acquisitions under a sort of “gApp” rubric, Zoho has been approaching things from another direction, preferring instead to build out the features then draw their suite together later. I won’t make any comment on how Zoho stacks up with its more notorious rival in terms of feature sets. Google has, of course, received the lion’s share of attention in this niche with its Docs and Spreadsheets product. The company currently has a fairly complete suite of online apps, from the basics of word processor, spreadsheet and presentation tool to more sophisticated stuff like a CRM app, project manager and a notebook app similar to Microsoft’s OneNote. I skipped a keynote and sat down with Raju Vegesna of Zoho, an outfit that specializes in hosted Web applications. Management features, in particular, are at the top of the list for many small businesses.Īnd improved features in SOHO/SMB/home-oriented network gear are going to increasingly move out of the “nice-to-have” column, and into the “critical” column. Here’s a comment I gleaned from the show floor that pertains to this week’s column:ĭ-Link’s representatives, in particular, noted that as more and more small offices come to demand more from their networks, there’s definite pressure to migrate capabilities previously seen only in their higher-end kit. Some people say it’s a company of 1,000 employees or more, some say it’s 50 or more, and one software engineer I know says “any company I can sell a support contract to.” Companies that make some money on practical networkers, SOHO and small business users - think D-Link and Netgear - have a presence at Interop, but the focus is on larger companies. “Enterprise” is one of those terms with a lot of wiggle room. Most of Interop is focused on stuff the so-called “enterprise” market is interested in. This week, I want to zero in on a chat I had with a company that has some ideas that pertain to networking, even if it isn’t exactly a “networking company,” and how the trend that company is riding is going to affect us. Last week, we featured a roundup on the happenings at Networld Interop in Las Vegas, taking most of our time to focus on hardware announcements. ![]()
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