Mountain View, California — A bonus to the internet content providing crowd, which is slightly later than had been planned last year, but soon you will be able to access your Google Docs files as the global search engine giant Google over the weekend announced that is all set to revamp Google Docs and Google Apps so that they can be used even when not connected to the internet. The change is expected to happen this summer.
The latest news from the team over at Google is apparently something the company has had on its platter for years, and now they are planning on unveiling a new offline feature which will empower users to access their documents/files without having to be connected to the net.
Google Docs was reported to get offline capabilities in early 2011, for instance.
“We will make them [Google Docs offline apps] available this summer,” said Sundar Pichai, senior vice president of Chrome, in an interview here last week at at the Google I/O conference. “We have all been using it internally. It is imminent. We want to make sure they’re good.”
Prior to the emergence of Chrome, the idea of expending more effort into Google Docs might not have taken priority; but now, with Acer and Samsung Chromebooks gearing up for their debut, addressing one of the application’s biggest flaws seems like a wise move.
As Google Chrome OS draws nearer, the ability to be able to use Google Apps or access your documents while you are offline will prove to be an invaluable feature — especially if you are using your Chrome netbook in a non-3G area. Hence, Google is convinced that the world is ready for a browser-based operating system.
Google reassures consumers that offline Web apps are now possible to program thanks to a number of application such as AppCache and IndexedDB arriving in browsers. But because we are all virtually connected 24/7 — particularly when seeking to access something like a word processing or spreadsheet file — there has not been a whole lot of interest from consumers.
Moreover, it would certainly be useful for office workers using a Chrome OS machine to enter customer data into a Web form, besides, offline access is no big deal, but for users who are on a non-Wi-Fi-accessible, which includes being useful when you are on a subway, on an airplane, or heaven forbid, in some primitive backwater that is not saturated with reliable 3G and need to show something to a client somewhere without online access, or even if your Internet goes out at home.
Furthermore, for those not familiar with Chromebooks to reach their full potential, they are the next step in Google’s plan to give the world a browser-based operating system so that they are able to handle a bit more of what even the lowest-end PC can do.
However, with this initiative, Google is also accepting that not everyone lives in their perceived future. In addition, the fact that this new feature is on its way now, though, apparently makes it much more likely that the focal point here is the impending launch of Google’s computer operating system Chrome OS. It will use Google Docs as the default suite of office software, so the ability to access it anytime, anywhere is paramount.
A final challenge for Google might be its own vision. The addition of offline access is also on the books for Google’s other browser-based Google Apps programs. Perhaps, the company is betting heavily on a future in which the Internet is stitched into the fabric of our lives. Indeed, with lobbying and investments in networking technology, it is trying to hasten the arrival of that future.
Nevertheless, Google has perhaps a better idea of how the future looks like. For instance, its campuses are embellished with Wi-Fi and peppered with Ethernet ports. Employees have home broadband, Net-connected shuttle buses, and for those moments in between, wireless data modems.
Thus, it should come as no surprise that Pichai said he must intentionally remember to unplug from the Net if he wants to try offline features of Google Docs.
Lastly, it is not clear just how high the demand for the feature is. But for a vast majority of people around the globe not in the Google bubble, with spotty 3G and restricted data for our smartphone and home broadband, offline support is essential.