With Gmail Offline, Google's Package Is Almost Too Good to Pass Up

Recently, Google began experimenting with a way to make Gmail accessible offline. Download an applet, get yourself synced up, and suddenly you're able to write and read stored mail even when you have no Web access. It's not perfect, but setup is generally smooth and it works well, writes reviewer Jack Germain. After a year in development and testing, Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) last month added an offline mail client to provide local access to mail folders when there is no Internet connection.Gmail Offline is still experimental and limited to synchronizing a maximum of 10,000 messages. It does not yet provide offline access to other Google features such as Calendar and Documents, but that capability is rumored to be in the works. It is not yet a perfect solution, but it does work rather well.Gmail Offline makes using the free, Web-based email service more efficient and useful. It solves the nagging problem of not having access to data stored in email folders. Until now, the absence of an offline mail reader has been a major reason for not using Web-based services like Google as a primary email delivery system.The ability to continue work tasks regardless of Internet access puts Google in the forefront of the free Web-based email providers. The addition of the offline email component leaves me with no compelling reason to use other Web-based products such as Yahoo (Nasdaq: YHOO) Mail, Windows Live (aka Hotmail or Messenger Live) or Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) Outlook, which is an offline email application.Until Gmail, with its ample gigabytes of online storage, I couldn't see much use for Web-based email in general. However, working on numerous computers in several locations, I can use Web-based email to centralize my email activity. Google's calendar and document storage, along with its latest feature of offline email access, makes the package almost too good to pass up.