Google has released a new cross-platform Firefox extension – Google Browser Sync. Basically it allows you to use one profile on multiple computers, with changes automatically synced up.
Netscape 4.x had roaming profile support. The relevant Bugzilla bug to reimplement it was bug 124029, which was fixed by Ben Bucksch back in 2004, with bug fixes up to late 2005. There’s even a Bugzilla component to track bugs in the implementation. I don’t know if the capability is built into FIrefox, or if it still works. As far as I can tell, it seems to be Seamonkey only.
The features and function look really cool – the only sad thing is that Google Sync is not free software. :-( So I can’t hack on it, or read the code to see if they are actually sending my “PIN” (the thing with numbers and letters that everyone else in the world calls a password, and which encrypts my stored information) to their servers, or set up my own server if I don’t trust them. So I’m not sure yet as to whether I’ll install it. Perhaps the release will inspire someone in the community to revive a free version.
bug 249343 – Roaming for Firefox
I would agree though that roaming is better suited for an extension.
Can’t one open up extensions and take a look at their source? I didn’t think Google Browser Sync was using a binary component…
I do know that your PIN is not sent to the server.
Foxmarks ( http://www.foxcloud.com/wiki/Main_Page ) allows you to sync bookmarks using your own server (or theirs if you choose to). Its been around much longer than Google Browser Sync but never seemed to get much publicity. The difference is Foxmarks doesn’t sync passwords, history, cookies, etc. Just bookmarks (what most people want to do anyway).
This is a huge list of overlapping features and services. There are about 4-8 more that I just can’t remember right now.
chipmark
foxmarks
abstract mouse
bookmarks synchronizer (the original one)
bookmarks synchronizer II
bookmarks synchronizer III
bookmarks synchronizer (early 2006 rekindling by someone else 1)
bookmarks synchronizer (early 2006 rekindling by someone else 2)
google bookmark sync
OwnArea – syncs entire profile
http://www.google.com/search?lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=Firefox%20Bookmark%20Share
Gerv, the existing roaming profile stuff doesn’t work in Firefox; I’ve not gotten the feeling that the Firefox leads particularly want it to work.
As for Google Browser Sync, I’d be unwilling to install it until someone shows, by code audit, that _none_ of the information is sent to Google’s servers.
Peter Kasting: The Google Terms of Use forbid you from attempting to “discover the source code”; unzipping an XPI and opening the files in a text editor certainly breaks that.
Boris: of course all the information is sent to Google’s servers; that’s how it works. I presume you mean “sent unencrypted”?
pepp5: That’s all very well, but is there anything that syncs everything, uses a server under your control, and is free software?
well, i won’t tell if you won’t ;-)
com’on, you want to tell me you won’t unzip it on your own pc, just for the curiousity, only because of the EULA?
Gerv: OwnArea I believe is free, syncs _everything_, but doesn’t use a server under our control. But neither does google browser sync – it’s under google’s control. The bookmarks sync extensions, however, let you define where to put the central file that syncs everything up – only for bookmarks though.
I just listed them because it’s another of those projects that there are a zillion solutions for, some are abandonware, some are commercial, some are amateur, some are continually re-picked up….
Tsahi: Of course I won’t!
pepp5: Of course. Thanks for the list :-) I was just pointing out that there’s still a hole in the market.
Hilariously, the EULA also grants you a license to use the extension on a single computer only, which is a bit stupid given it’s only useful when used on two or more computers.
extensions/sroaming is SeaMonkey only unfortunately, and I’ve found it to be a tad buggy.
Gerv, being the atheist i am, i think the restrictions religious people put on themselves only prevent them from living a happier life. eventually we will all be worm food, and nothing more.
Tsahi: Then why bother working on Firefox, or doing anything else for that matter? If eventually we are all worm food, then anything we do is pointless.
Gerv, Just because I’m going to be worm food one day doesn’t mean that there aren’t going to be a lot of people who aren’t worm food at that particular moment.
We can do things for the good of humanity just because it’s good for humanity, not because we have been told to do it by the almighty.
No wonder Christians seem to have such a strange view of morality if they can’t understand the concept of doing things for the good of humanity, jusr because it’s the right thing to do.
On another note, the only kind of immortality that can be guaranteed is one’s legacy that they leave behind after becoming worm-food, that legacy comes in the form of their contributions to humanity, be you Geoffery Dahmer or Isaac Newton
or just plain old Steviant, what you do, and what you contribute will be remembered by someone who isn’t worm food just yet.
Who knows, perhaps we atheists are wrong about the worm-food thing, but at least we will live our lives for those who are alive, and not put off everything until the hereafter. And maybe, just maybe we’ll make the world a better place in which to live, and not just in which to die.
Sure. But we are all worm food eventually; and in the end, the Earth falls into the Sun, or the universe recollapses into a singularity, destroying everything. What’s the point?
That’s a straw man, and you know it. Why do you think I work on the Mozilla project, if not to use my God-given gifts to make the world a better place?
There is no point Gerv. The only difference between theism and atheism is that theism throws an extra step in between the end and there being no point. Jesus returns and destroys everything and all the good souls are in heaven and the bad souls are in hell. What’s the point after that?
Remember, atheism isn’t strange at all if you think of it like this: Think of all the hundreds of religions in the world that you choose not to believe in. I only choose to believe in one less than you.
For Christians, it’s living forever in perfect happiness, in the company of the king of the Universe and the rest of his people.
At most one religion is true. So in fact, I believe in 100% of the true religions, and you believe in 0%. Thinking of it that way, there’s a bit more of a gap…
Why? If I help someone, he/she becomes happy, and so do I. The action has been done, and the a reward has been obtained. It has already served a purpose; how is it pointless?
Believing that actions ultimately have other rewards on Judgement Day or in another life is one thing; thinking that these are the only thing worth living for is quite another. Thinking that doing good, or making life better for others, is pointless unless it will earn you a place in heaven seems very selfish and shocking to me.
A belief that’s responsible for many of the world’s problems.
But if you and he are wiped off the face of the earth the following second, then that action might as well not have happened. It is pointless. And if that’s so, why is it any less pointless if it takes you 50 or 100 or 1000 years to become dead and forgotten?
No, simple logic. “A” and “not A” cannot both be true at the same time. For example, “Jesus died and rose from the dead” (Christianity) and “Jesus did not die” (Islam) cannot both be true at the same time.