The line between Microsoft and Google just got fuzzier with the release of Google Gears, a humble browser extension that suddenly allows GMail, Google Reader and other previously web-based applications to work offline!  The competition for Microsoft’s cash cow, the Office Suite, just got stronger.

This little tick marks a radical transition for Google…

… every one of those brilliant online applications from Google Docs and Spreadsheets to Google Reader just started to mark their way onto your offline desktop.  Sure, Google Gears are very in Beta (as opposed to, say, the last 12 months which GMail spent in Beta), but as those kinks are worked out, Microsoft’s competition just got stauncher!