What do Microsoft Outlook, Mozilla Thunderbird have that Gmail doesn’t?

The ability to read and write your email offline while on a flight!

Not anymore… perhaps.

Google for all its strength has wised up to the fact that business users NEED to be able to have their email with them when they travel to the desert of Bahariya (which I was at recently, while in Egypt) or on a flight between Singapore and New York. As such, they are trialling the ability to read, write and search through messages when not connected to any networks.

Another application in the Google Apps suite that is slated to go offline (not canned!) is the Google Calendar which is definitely handy to have.

However, it seems that these features might be coupled with their Google Chrome browser, of which I am not a fan of at all. Their mediocre launch left me remembering their comic strips over the browser experience.

Read more about their offline initiatives here