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See the original image at arstechnica.com

First look: Mozilla Weave 0.2 puts Firefox in the cloud

arstechnica.com — Mozilla Labs has announced the availability of Weave 0.2, the third major release of its experimental Firefox synchronization add-on. This version brings a broader feature set, improved reliability, and streamlined notification support. Although it is still in the early testing stage, Weave is already effective and easy to use.

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  • BlaenkDenum, on 07/03/2008, -0/+20I can't wait for this to become a little more stable, I heard it had many bugs and many things didn't work. But I'm pretty sure it'll be rockin in no time. I just hope they thought about scalability before hand, unlike Google :/
  • praveenmarkandu, on 07/03/2008, -3/+8this is one of the most innovative things to come out in a while. however, with Firefox higher market share, the load on their servers must be tremendous.... though i doubt everyone will use this add-on.
    • sishgupta, on 07/03/2008, -1/+5Dunno bout innovative, since google has only just recently discontinued their extension for firefox that did the exact same thing.

      The load on their servers is indeed seemingly tremendous as it can take minutes for weave to sync.
      • comrade693, on 07/03/2008, -0/+5It's innovative because they are letting you do more than just sync. There's sharing, which is new, and then the proposed ideas on making your browser session move to your mobile device seamlessly.
    • cannonballtrane, on 07/03/2008, -0/+3Maybe the use-case is for techie individuals and companies to set up their own sync servers? Last time I looked at this project they were running it over web-dav, so this should be easy to set up.
  • blackdude, on 07/03/2008, -1/+24This may not be totally related to the story but I love their choice of name and logo :], very nice.
  • bocko10, on 07/03/2008, -1/+7ok call me dumb if you want but in layman terms what does this mean or what would it do for me
    • sishgupta, on 07/03/2008, -0/+10All your firefox's (home, laptop, work, etc) have the same settings/bookmarks and eventually extensions all the time.
    • leftyfb, on 07/03/2008, -0/+17It allows you to synchronize your bookmarks, history, open tabs, form data, cookies on every instance of Firefox 3.0 on multiple computers. So you're working on several tabs at home, you go to work the next day and when you open Firefox, all the same tabs, etc are open.
    • reformation, on 07/03/2008, -5/+2If you had read the article maybe you wouldn't be so dumb
  • jazzboyrules, on 07/03/2008, -0/+8It's good but for me, it takes about a minute or more to sync when Firefox exits. Anybody seeing the same thing?
    • spartin92, on 07/03/2008, -0/+2Same here... I'm sure it'll be fixed by the final release.
    • s0u1man, on 07/03/2008, -0/+2Type "about:config" in the awesomebar, search for "extensions.weave.synconQuit.enabled" and set it to false
  • pitchblack16, on 07/03/2008, -17/+3mozilla sucks
  • cronot, on 07/03/2008, -0/+7In previous versions, Weave only synced bookmarks and history. Now that it syncs passwords and form data, it can actually replace the now dead Google Sync. Nice! Now I just hope it is more stable than previous versions...
  • dronf23, on 07/03/2008, -1/+4This would be great...but it breaks the stealther extension that I use to hide my pr0n browsing activities.
  • Dongvid, on 07/03/2008, -13/+7Hmmm... its as if they're copying Opera again... Oh, right. Because they are.

    Can they do anything innovative?
    • GrantTLC, on 07/03/2008, -1/+5True, but look at the way they're taking Opera's ball and running further with it:

      "cookies, passwords, tabs, and form contents. Future versions will go further and also support synchronizing the user's extensions, themes, and search plugins"

      A lot of Opera users have been very keen to see passwords added to the OperaLink feature - looks like Mozilla might be first to offer it....
    • seanieb, on 07/03/2008, -0/+6I think they are spurring each other on. The competition is healthy and over we, the end users are the winners.
    • comrade693, on 07/03/2008, -1/+5And google browser sync had it before Opera - your point?

      You statement is like saying that Ford is copying GM because their vehicles have anti-lock breaks too.
      • caseycoold, on 07/03/2008, -6/+1oh man, if ie started taking ff features, you'd have a freaking cow.
        "but, don't they already? look at the tabs! THE TABS!!"
        had tabs in ie before with extensions ff, so w/e
        I started with mozilla before it was ff just so that I made sure I wasn't dependent on any one browser. Now the attitude of ff users has pushed me away.

        *sigh*
      • novemberdobby, on 07/04/2008, -1/+1Firefox copying Opera = 'innovative'

        Opera copying Firefox = base treachery
    • kaniz, on 07/03/2008, -0/+3So, just because one browser does it first - means that no other browser should do it after? That sounds like a swell idea.

      It's great to see good ideas be implemented in other browsers, as it creates healthy competition as everyone tries to create / implement the best-of-breed features.

      Yes, I was also happy to see IE finally implement tabs, even though I don't use IE.
    • Culyt, on 07/03/2008, -1/+1You do realise Opera itself is a copy of the grandparent of Firefox, Mosaic from which all modern web browsers originated, which spawned Netscape, in turn made Mozilla, that ended up as Firefox. Of course the web itself was a copy of HyperCard/Gopher.
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosaic_%28web_browser ...
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HyperCard

      I wish people would stop bitching about copying, everyone does it, its how things progress, by building on other technologies. If no one copied anything we would never get anywhere. Just because someone did it first doesn't mean they did it well, in fact its generally the opposite since its something new that isn't understood.

      You might as well claim they are coping by using GUI's from Xerox, because there are buttons. Or claim they are copying tuning because its on a computer, or that computers stole idea from physicists because they use electricity.

      We would be using the horse and cart because auto mobiles are improved copies of them, stealing such technologies as the wheel.

      ☢
    • Dongvid, on 07/03/2008, -0/+2I agree, Firefox should copy the feature. I just don't know how Firefox deserves any praise for it (like this 700+ dugg article). Every Firefox article that comes up on Digg gets an instant boost to popularity when this is really nothing to get excited about. Its an inferior browser to Opera in any technical breakdown. Only with a ton of extra addons can you bloat past it in features, and they constantly need updating.

      I knew the Firefox bury squad would also come get my comment, because they obviously havn't tried Opera. I'll admit I was one of them until Opera 9.0 came out free of charge, and my love of Firefox dwindled to a like. I heard of Opera, but had never tried it until then and had no desire to. Now I only use Opera. It has all the essentials like Tab Mix Plus, tab thumbnails, mouse gestures, adblock, and speed dial built in (as well as many more things I don't even use, like the email/bittorrent clients and voice control).

      Most Firefox users are fresh off of IE and thought that the internet WAS the blue "e" on their desktop. They should really learn that there are alternatives not only to IE, but also to Firefox.
  • RandomCommenter, on 07/03/2008, -8/+2Who the hell wants to record their history on a central server???

    - Check out foxmarks add-on. Best bookmarks sync
    • MattBot5000, on 07/03/2008, -0/+1I do
    • comrade693, on 07/03/2008, -1/+2Who the hell wants to record their bookmarks on a central server unencrypted??? Apparently you. The difference here is that Weave uses encryption (and it's done on the client), so the server has no idea what you are storing.
      • RandomCommenter, on 07/03/2008, -0/+0see Google giving YouTube histories.
        Encrypted or not, there are people who will want to get hold of that info
      • CeeJayDK, on 07/03/2008, -0/+1Foxmarks also uses encryption.
  • insanebrain, on 07/03/2008, -11/+5Jesus -*****- christ . . it's called THE INTERNET .. and NOT the cloud. Only dumb-ass managers call it the cloud because the flowchart sign for the internet is a cloud. A manager who calls it the cloud should be fired, because he doesn't know what he is talking about.
  • MattBot5000, on 07/03/2008, -0/+4I've been using Weave since FF3 came out of beta and it works great. The only problem I've seen is that it is a little slow, especially upon closing firefox.
  • fuckinmetal, on 07/03/2008, -2/+2not working on ubuntu 8.04 64
    • insanebrain, on 07/03/2008, -1/+3Yeah. . but tell me what DOES work decently with 8.04 64. For me it's the most ***** up version of ubuntu till now.
      • someguy92, on 07/03/2008, -0/+1Everything except flash.
      • Tob3z, on 07/03/2008, -0/+1even flash works now
      • iofthestorm, on 07/03/2008, -0/+1Is the 64 bit version of 8.04 really that bad? I tried installing it on my new laptop and the live cd wouldn't boot, so I just stopped trying because I don't really have any use for Ubuntu anyway.
    • comrade693, on 07/03/2008, -0/+1The article mentions that you need to get a build (of Firefox) from Mozilla to run it on Linux.
    • rac1234, on 07/03/2008, -0/+1It's only version 0.2. Ubuntu 8.04 64 may not exactly be their top priority right now.
  • james.mattson, on 07/03/2008, -0/+1How many people are actually getting this to work? The version before this one was working good for me. I had to create a new account when they upgraded, and now I can't get more than one computer to sync. it keeps saying my sync passphrase is wrong. ARRGGG.
    • Otto, on 07/03/2008, -0/+1It works fine for me. And everybody had to create a new account.

      You can use your own server if you like. Look into WebDAV.
  • drwaterside, on 07/03/2008, -1/+4very exciting... but I would have serious privacy concerns
  • JustAFarmBoy23, on 07/03/2008, -0/+0User data privacy will always be a concern with a system like this. I'll have to try it out since it could come in handy for sure.
  • axis, on 07/03/2008, -0/+2It needs the ability to sync the entire profile, archive it, password protect it and then upload it. You can do that with FEBE, but not the upload part, but a little scripting and scheduled tasks can accomplish that.
  • brianfischer, on 07/03/2008, -0/+1This is the replacement for google browser sync. However, it is more alpha software than beta. Not all features are implemented.
  • DjArcadian, on 07/03/2008, -0/+2Lots of bugs with this. I had problems but I installed the Add-On and disabled it so at least it's installed. Biggest compliant is that a sync window pops up when you close it. I have to switch FF profiles a lot so it's an inconvenience. I'm sure they'll do away with that in the future. Google Browser Sync had the same issue initially but they fixed it. Too bad Google is discontinuing it.
  • apena89, on 07/03/2008, -2/+0they took my idea!
    *****!
    • flipmeat, on 07/03/2008, -0/+2Implement it better than them. Competition is a healthy thing.
  • Beylan, on 07/03/2008, -0/+1Anyone notice in the options that it has (greyed out) checkboxes for sync'ing extensions? THAT will be really cool.
  • futur4m4, on 07/03/2008, -0/+1This sounds really cool. I currently use FoxMarks to do effectively the same thing, but only for bookmarks. Syncing up cookies, passwords, tabs, and extensions would be fantastic!
  • Kvasaari, on 07/03/2008, -5/+1Yet another useless FF addon.
  • AbstortedMinds, on 07/03/2008, -1/+1storing passwords 'on the cloud' anyone see anything sketch about this
  • hiro, on 07/03/2008, -0/+1I tried this to replace the great Google sync when I moved to FF3 but it just didn't cut the mustard. Foxmarks seems to be the way to go, no problems since moving to it
  • notrub225, on 07/03/2008, -1/+0So what browser do you currently use?
  • anshuman, on 07/03/2008, -0/+2http://labs.mozilla.com/2008/06/major-update-to-we ...

    direct link to the thing itself.
  • Jammerdelray, on 07/04/2008, -0/+1very cool
  • Jezper, on 07/04/2008, -0/+1No PPC support (n)
  • kimsonsolutions, on 07/04/2008, -0/+0i can't remember my passsphrase !!
  • HideoKojima, on 07/04/2008, -1/+1The firefox team rips off opera once again.
  •  

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