Google sync for Firefox
Published by peter June 9th, 2006 in various.I know, Google is evil. But they now offer a great extension for Firefox called Google Browser Sync. It allows you to sync your Firefox profile (bookmarks, stored passwords, history) with a cenrtralized service; a roaming browser profile!
When I first read the announcement I was a bit scared by the implications on privacy, but the extension allows you to select which part of the profile should be stored encrypted:
I hope this will help me in loosing passwords for sites like Java Blackbelt, Amazon and Linked.in each time I reinstall or switch computers! Go Google!
— update —
It seems google sync can not cope with ‘complex’ firefox configurations: at work I tend to switch proxy settings quite often, this is the preferred way of selecting different stages in the OTAP environment (OTAP is a common used Dutch acronym for development, system test, functional acceptance test and production) for my current project. The problem is: if I forget to reset the proxy settings at work Google sync won’t let me start my browser at home….!! Unworkable!
Excellent stuff, I am using RoboForm with similar functionality for some months now.
It works with a locally encrypted store, locked by a password. But is doesn’t roam and I have to take backups.
Well, some people store the database on the H:drive or a USB stick. H:drive requires network connection (VPN) but is backed up. USB stick is independent of network, but you can forget or loose it and no backups are taken. Furthermore USB stick might not always work on every PC.
Google Sync seems to solve these issues, so I am going to try.
Of course the issue remains that it has to be installed on each PC used.
Thanks for the tip!
We might want to declare this policy for some years waiting the holy grail of SSO.