Google releases code for Browser Sync

 

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By Barry Collins

Posted on 10 Jul 2008 at 09:31

Google has released the code for a tool that synchronises your browser settings, after the company decided to discontinue the product.

The Browser Sync extension for Firefox kept bookmarks, passwords, history and cookies synchronised across your various PCs.

However, Google recently decided to ditch support for the client with the launch of Firefox 3, much to the dismay of a band of loyal users.

Now the search company has decided to make the code for Browser Sync open source, so that developers can take on the project themselves.

"Given our recent decision to discontinue support for Browser Sync, we wanted to make sure that the code for it was available for the developer community to use and improve," says Browser Sync developer Aaron Boodman on the Google Open-Source Blog.

"While we're no longer doing active development, we've released the code in the hopes that those folks who asked for it will use it to develop something cool. For example, it would be great to see the server ported to Google App Engine, or support for Firefox 3 implemented."

Those who don't have the time or expertise to tinker with Google's code may prefer to seek alternatives, such as Mozilla's own Weave project, which offers server-based sychronisation of bookmarks and history, or the more tried and trusted Foxmarks extension.

See the next issue of PC Pro for our power-user's guide to Firefox 3