Google Gears and Webaroo

Google is trying to make the web services work offline, and it launched Gears recently. It is a toolkit which developers can use to make their web services work without an internet connection. That is if rediff adds Gears support to their site I can browse rediff without an internet connection!!! And it will automatically sync up the content next time I connect to internet. No user intervention is required expect for downloading and installing a small plugin.

If enough web services add Gears support it could mean trouble for Webaroo, the webaroo people are focusing on providing web packs for offline browsing, for example I can download an India news pack on my computer and browse it offline. But what if all news sites add Gears support , I wont be needing the pack anymore, I will just surf the web as usual and gears will keep syncing content in the background.

I guess after the release of gears webaroo will seriously need to reconsider their strategy of creating and providing offline content, but having said that gears is in very early stage and will require lot of enhancements before it reaches mass adoption. But still I have a feeling webaroo could be in serious trouble.