According to many pundits on these here interwebs, Web Apps like Google Docs, Writely and Backpack will soon be the dominant platform - rendering your choice of operating system irrelevant. All you will need to do some work is an internet connection.
And there’s the rub. What happens when your ISP decides to do some maintenance or you find yourself somewhere with no wifi or 3G signal?
Google Gears is an attempt to build a platform for running web apps while offline by using a simple, local webserver running on your device. It’s still in beta (what isn’t?), but several web apps now support it.
What has been lacking to date is cross-platform support for mobile devices. Windows Mobile 5 & 6 are supported, but the mobile Internet Explorer is lacking in a few key areas such as adequate CSS support.
Opera has just announced that the next version of both its desktop and mobile browser will offer full Gears support. The free (java) Opera Mini isn’t up to hosting a Gears app yet, but the non-free Opera Mobile 9.5 will be able to run Gears on both WinMo and Symbian phones
via IntoMobile
