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Google Phasing Out Gears For HTML5
Kelson writes "Have you noticed that there haven't been many updates to Gears in a while? That's because Google has decided to focus instead on similar capabilities in the emerging HTML5 standard: local storage, database, workers and location cover similar functionality, but natively in the web browser. Of course, since Gears and HTML APIs aren't exactly the same, it's not a simple drop-in replacement, so they'll continue supporting the current version of Gears in Firefox and Internet Explorer. I guess this means the long-anticipated Gears support for 64-bit Firefox on Linux and Opera are moot."
But honestly I hope they are actively evaluating the standards. Just because it's a "standard" doesn't mean it's good and worth using.
...so I take it that gears will be phased out when HTML5 arrives in 2022?
Advice: on VPS providers
Agility is not a defecit of attention. They're quicker than other big tech to catch on, ballsy enough to take risks, savvy enough to remain a powerhouse, and honest/polite enough to alert users of a change of direction.
Or Google could be utter crap. But crappier and less trustworthy competition makes Google look like Robin Hoods and all-stars in comparison.
My money making site, which most people read from work, is getting 18% IE 6 - almost as much as Firefox and not far behind IE 7 or IE 8, and a lot more than Chrome, Safari or Opera.
My blog traffic is 48% Firefox, with IE6 down to less than 2%.
It depends on your audience.