Google DocsEchoes of jubilation resound across the websphere for the last couple days. Google has announced in this blog an important update to its Google Docs engine.

As many Google services, it’s a combination of technology acquisitions and in-house development projects; therefore, lacking in some respects the uniformity of a code base and style. Fortunately, Google engineers are known to value the “beauty” of their code and have achieved a new milestone by updating the Google Docs engine.

I believe that another bigger issue lies beneath this new engine. Learning from the experience of having to remove one of their apps from the iPhone platform due to going against Apple’s philosophy that no application should run in binary or emulated form, Google is switching to the richer HTML 5 upcoming standard. The advantage is clear, a solid base to develop better web applications and the use of an industry standard to which most companies or organizations developing web browsers (Microsoft, the Mozilla Foundation, Opera, Apple, Google, etc.) will have to adhere in order to be compliant. Google Docs will stop supporting their Gears engine for accessing content off-line in exchange of embracing the new HTML 5 paradigm. I believe that it’s a step closer to  provide more options for the consumer under restrictive platforms like the ones fomented by Apple for their iPhone/iPad ecosystem.

I encourage you to watch the video posted in the Google blog entry for a taste of the new features and improvements. The new drawing editor seems quite impressive for a web application.

I’ll be exploring the new Google Docs and will report back to you my findings.