Offline web applications

I think Slingshot (for Rails) was the first time I had heard about offline web applications. Right off I didn’t get it, and now, I still don’t get it. Am I the only one who thinks this is dumb? I thought maybe it was a phase, but then Google Gears came out (around when Google Reader was capable of going offline), as well as a few other libraries (or whatever you want to call them). I just read today that there are actually people wanting offline gmail. I don’t know what kind of lifestyle you’d have to have to be in a place where 1) you didn’t have internet access (and can’t get to it) and 2) absolutely had to do something online right then and there.

I mean, it’s cool that it can be done and all, but far too many things are done out of coolness (I’m guilty of that, as well). But really, just because you can doesn’t always mean you should.