Web Based Applications Need to Set Offline Data Free

Posted: January 22, 2008

Do you use multiple computers?
Are any of your computers ever offline (plane flights)?
Do you use a mobile phone?
Do you write email or notes on your phone?
Does your phone sometimes lose Internet connection?
Have you ever lost work because you tried to save an online document (even an email draft) and lost the document because you Internet was down?
Have you been unable to access your files online because the website was down?

If you answered yes to any of the above questions, then you probably want programs that are not just ‘in the clouds’ but also sync the clouds to your grounded files.

A web based program does not truly set us free unless it has these features:

Online access
Offline access
Online / offline sync
Mobile access
Offline mobile access
Mobile sync

An example of this functionality would be the ‘ideal Google notebook world’. Could you imagine how useful Google notebook would be with this feature set:

Online access as current
Utilizing Google gears (or even it’s own downloadable program) for offline access
Online / offline sync
Mobile access as current
Mobile program to keep notes on phone
Online / Offline mobile note sync
Control panel showing which mobile notebooks (or local computer files) to sync

This type of functionally isn’t just adding new features to programs, it’s easy to a major difference between Google and Microsoft when examining offline and online syncing of information.

Offline information is outside of Google’s core competency. Even with the Google Gears integration with GMail, there isn’t an ‘Outbox’ so one can write mail while offline and then the mail sends when one connects. Instead, one can only read some email offline and the functionality pretty much ends there. On the mobile side, while their web access is fairly well done, and very quick; one does not have access to all GMails’s features, such applying a label to an email.

One the other side of the spectrum, Microsoft’s Hotmail might be one of the best examples of ubiquitous access points with cross functional syncing capabilities:

Online access via website in browser
Online / Offline / Sync access with Live Mail
Online / Offline / Sync access with Outlook connector
Integrated with product set via Outlook connector
Mobile access via website in mobile browser
Online / Offline / Sync mobile access by download and send from phone
With Active Sync or Wireless Sync one can sync Hotmail (or Outlook) mail, notes, calendar, and tasks with a mobile phone
With Active Sync or Wireless Sync and Outlook connector, one can enter new information on a phone, computer, web access, or mobile access and all that information will be shared and synced with each of the other devices and access points.

As it becomes easier to connect to the web, online applications such as Apple’s iPhone/iPod Touch webapps will play a larger part of our life; but our connectivity availability is not 100%, which is required for Apple’s newest useful innovation.

The future might be webapps and cloud computing. However, until a day arrives when we’re 100% connected, the safety net of controlling and syncing our data regardless of access point availability will increase productivity, drive adoptions, and prove a more friendly user experience.

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Written by Brad Geddes aka eWhisper · Filed Under eWhisper's Notebook

Comments

One Response to “Web Based Applications Need to Set Offline Data Free”

Do you miss Google Notebook? Two free fantastic alternatives. | bg Theory, LLC on January 23rd, 2009 10:21 am

[...] Data storage and access will only become more complex over the coming years. Companies need to learn how to mesh 2.0 applications and real world functionality. [...]