<s>
Gears	B-Application
,	O
formerly	O
Google	B-Application
Gears	I-Application
,	O
is	O
discontinued	O
utility	B-Application
software	I-Application
offered	O
by	O
Google	B-Application
to	O
create	O
more	O
powerful	O
web	B-Application
apps	I-Application
by	O
adding	O
offline	O
storage	O
and	O
other	O
additional	O
features	O
to	O
web	B-Application
browsers	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Released	O
under	O
the	O
BSD	B-Operating_System
license	I-Operating_System
,	O
Gears	B-Application
is	O
free	B-License
and	I-License
open-source	I-License
.	O
</s>
<s>
Gears	B-Application
was	O
conceived	O
at	O
a	O
time	O
when	O
a	O
comparable	O
alternative	O
was	O
not	O
available	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
However	O
,	O
Gears	B-Application
was	O
discontinued	O
in	O
favor	O
of	O
the	O
standardized	O
HTML5	B-Application
methods	O
that	O
eventually	O
became	O
prevalent	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
There	O
were	O
several	O
major	O
API	B-Application
components	O
to	O
Gears	B-Application
:	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
Database	O
module	O
(	O
powered	O
by	O
SQLite	B-Language
)	O
,	O
which	O
could	O
store	O
data	O
locally	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
WorkerPool	O
module	O
,	O
which	O
provided	O
parallel	O
execution	O
of	O
JavaScript	B-Language
code	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
LocalServer	O
module	O
,	O
which	O
cached	O
and	O
served	O
application	O
resources	O
(	O
HTML	O
,	O
JavaScript	B-Language
,	O
images	O
,	O
etc	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
Desktop	O
module	O
,	O
which	O
let	O
web	B-Application
applications	I-Application
interact	O
more	O
naturally	O
with	O
the	O
desktop	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
Geolocation	O
module	O
,	O
which	O
let	O
web	B-Application
applications	I-Application
detect	O
the	O
geographical	O
location	O
of	O
their	O
users	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Version	O
Date	O
Description	O
0.1	O
2007-05-31	O
Initial	O
release	O
as	O
Google	B-Application
Gears	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
0.22008-02-22	O
-	O
2008-05-28	O
Project	O
renamed	O
to	O
Gears	B-Application
to	O
reflect	O
the	O
open	B-Application
source	I-Application
,	O
collaborative	O
nature	O
of	O
the	O
project	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
0.3	O
2008-06-11	O
Introduced	O
ability	O
to	O
add	O
desktop	O
icons	O
,	O
support	O
for	O
Mozilla	B-Language
Firefox	I-Language
3	I-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
Several	O
web	B-Application
applications	I-Application
from	O
a	O
variety	O
of	O
companies	O
used	O
Gears	B-Application
at	O
some	O
point	O
,	O
including	O
Google	B-Application
(	O
Gmail	B-Application
,	O
YouTube	B-General_Concept
,	O
Docs	B-Application
,	O
Reader	B-Application
,	O
Picasa	B-Application
for	O
mobile	O
,	O
Calendar	B-Application
,	O
Wave	B-Application
)	O
,	O
MySpace	B-Application
(	O
Mail	O
Search	O
)	O
,	O
Zoho	B-General_Concept
Office	I-General_Concept
Suite	I-General_Concept
,	O
Remember	B-Application
The	I-Application
Milk	I-Application
,	O
and	O
Buxfer	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
WordPress	B-Application
2.6	I-Application
added	O
support	O
for	O
Gears	B-Application
,	O
to	O
speed	O
up	O
the	O
administrative	O
interface	O
and	O
reduce	O
server	O
hits	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
However	O
,	O
after	O
Google	B-Application
announced	O
in	O
February	O
2010	O
that	O
there	O
would	O
be	O
no	O
further	O
development	O
of	O
Gears	B-Application
(	O
see	O
End	O
of	O
life	O
section	O
)	O
,	O
several	O
of	O
these	O
applications	O
discontinued	O
their	O
support	O
for	O
Gears	B-Application
,	O
including	O
Google	B-Application
Reader	I-Application
and	O
WordPress	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Gears	B-Application
could	O
be	O
enabled	O
on	O
sites	O
where	O
it	O
was	O
otherwise	O
unsupported	O
,	O
by	O
using	O
a	O
Greasemonkey	B-Operating_System
user	O
script	O
that	O
one	O
of	O
the	O
Gears	B-Application
engineers	O
created	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Gears	B-Application
was	O
supported	O
on	O
Internet	B-Application
Explorer	I-Application
6	I-Application
and	I-Application
Internet	I-Application
Explorer	I-Application
8	I-Application
on	O
Windows	B-Application
XP	I-Application
,	O
Vista	B-Application
,	O
and	O
7	B-Device
,	O
Internet	B-Application
Explorer	I-Application
Mobile	I-Application
4.01	I-Application
and	I-Application
later	I-Application
on	O
Windows	B-Operating_System
Mobile	I-Operating_System
,	O
Safari	B-Application
3.1.1	I-Application
and	I-Application
later	I-Application
on	O
Mac	B-Application
OS	I-Application
X	I-Application
10.4	I-Application
and	O
later	O
(	O
though	O
not	O
with	O
Safari	B-Operating_System
4	I-Operating_System
on	O
Mac	B-Device
OS	I-Device
X	I-Device
10.6	I-Device
)	O
,	O
and	O
Firefox	B-Application
1.5	I-Application
and	I-Application
later	I-Application
on	O
multiple	O
platforms	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Gears	B-Application
did	O
not	O
support	O
attachment	O
files	O
with	O
sizes	O
greater	O
than	O
2	O
GB	O
under	O
Mac	B-Application
OS	I-Application
X	I-Application
Leopard	I-Application
or	O
Snow	B-Device
Leopard	I-Device
due	O
to	O
a	O
bug	O
in	O
the	O
Blob	O
handling	O
code	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
On	O
May	O
29	O
,	O
2008	O
,	O
Opera	O
Software	O
ASA	O
announced	O
that	O
Opera	B-Language
Mobile	I-Language
9.5	I-Language
would	O
support	O
Gears	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
technology	O
preview	O
release	O
of	O
the	O
browser	B-Application
was	O
published	O
on	O
February	O
20	O
,	O
2009	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
was	O
available	O
for	O
touch-screen	O
devices	O
on	O
Windows	B-Operating_System
Mobile	I-Operating_System
5	O
&	O
6	B-Operating_System
only	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Gears	B-Application
was	O
not	O
built	O
into	O
browsers	B-Application
other	O
than	O
Google	B-Application
Chrome	I-Application
and	O
had	O
to	O
be	O
downloaded	O
separately	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Ruby	B-Application
on	I-Application
Rails	I-Application
framework	O
supported	O
interfaces	O
to	O
Gears	B-Application
without	O
needing	O
to	O
understand	O
the	B-Application
Google	I-Application
Gears	B-Application
API	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
late	O
November	O
2009	O
,	O
numerous	O
online	O
news	O
sources	O
reported	O
that	O
Google	B-Application
was	O
going	O
to	O
migrate	O
to	O
Web	B-Application
Storage	I-Application
rather	O
than	O
use	O
Gears	B-Application
in	O
the	O
future	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
Google	B-Application
spokesman	O
later	O
clarified	O
that	O
Google	B-Application
would	O
,	O
however	O
,	O
continue	O
to	O
support	O
Gears	B-Application
so	O
as	O
not	O
to	O
break	O
sites	O
using	O
it	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
On	O
February	O
19	O
,	O
2010	O
,	O
the	O
Gears	B-Application
team	O
at	O
Google	B-Application
announced	O
that	O
the	O
development	O
of	O
Google	B-Application
Gears	I-Application
had	O
stopped	O
,	O
as	O
they	O
are	O
working	O
on	O
bringing	O
all	O
of	O
the	O
Gears	B-Application
capabilities	O
into	O
web	O
standards	O
like	O
HTML5	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Although	O
development	O
of	O
new	O
features	O
had	O
ceased	O
,	O
Google	B-Application
was	O
planning	O
to	O
continue	O
supporting	O
Gears	B-Application
until	O
they	O
have	O
developed	O
a	O
"	O
simple	O
,	O
comprehensive	O
"	O
method	O
for	O
users	O
 '	O
data	O
to	O
be	O
migrated	O
to	O
HTML5	B-Application
features	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
On	O
22	O
November	O
2011	O
,	O
Google	B-Application
announced	O
that	O
on	O
1	O
December	O
2011	O
,	O
Gears	B-Application
support	O
would	O
be	O
removed	O
from	O
Gmail	B-Application
and	O
Google	B-Application
Calendar	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Gears	B-Application
was	O
removed	O
from	O
Google	B-Application
Chrome	I-Application
on	O
June	O
7	B-Device
,	O
2011	O
.	O
</s>
