Google have released a beta of Gears - a browser plugin (.xpi for Firefox) that allows you to store offline content on a user’s hard-drive, via javascript. This allows AJAX web applications to continue working offline, using the stored content. I lambasted JavaFX for the same feature, but I only realised what they might’ve meant after looking at the Gears examples, and the potential therein. It’s not so much a case of fetching new data from the server, but say in the case of Google Apps, continuing to edit a spreadsheet even though you’re offline. Gears could then synchronise your local copy to the server when you connect again. JavaFX should’ve compared itself to Gears, if it were around.

There’s also a local SQLite database you can run queries on through javascript, and it also provides a non-blocking thread system so that you can run intensive javascript without locking up your web app.

Unfortunately this all only works after you’ve installed the plugin, which I imagine is some horrid ActiveX affair in IE on windows.