Firefox Sync Shows Mozilla's Still Got It

Chrome has been stealing much of the media attention in the browser space and even Microsoft, with its latest iteration of Internet Explorer, has been keeping its name out there as a topic of conversation.

But what of Mozilla, which until just recently has been the fastest-growing Web browser? Since the launch of Apple's iPhone in 2007, Mozilla has appeared to struggle with direction at times. In fact, the most press it's gotten in the last several years has been when developers reported that they had finally patched umpteen thousand memory leaks (or perceived memory leaks) and had become a more stable browser for the PC platform.

But a lot of quiet work appears to now be getting results. Recently, Mozilla announced it was working on a project to develop an iPhone app that syncs data across platforms and across the Internet to Apple's mobile platform. Now, Mozilla says its "Weave Sync" technology that is to be the foundation for the iPhone App is ready for broad PC adoption under the name "Firefox Sync."

Here's how it works: Firefox Sync is downloaded into a PC's Firefox browser as an add-on. After signing up for the sync service by creating a user name and password, the user is prompted to create an encryption code. Data from the browser, like bookmarks and browsing history, is then synchronized over the Internet with Mozilla servers. While data physically resides on Mozilla servers, it's encrypted and Mozilla says it's not accessible - not even to the folks at Mozilla.

It's easy enough to use. In the CRN Test Center lab, we downloaded the add-on to a Firefox browser on a Windows 7 Professional PC and also to an Ubuntu 10.04-based PC. In a matter of minutes we were able to synchronize browsing data between PCs over the Internet.

Mozilla is even encouraging users to get started doing this now, to make it easier to start using Firefox Home on the iPhone and iPad once it's ready there. As technology goes, it's not rocket science, but it appears to be stable, fast, simple and, it works. In addition to eventually being able to sync browsing data between PCs and mobile devices like the iPhone, this also opens the door to this technology's integration with other Mozilla platforms like Thunderbird.

Mozilla tries to answer security concerns over putting your data on their servers this way:

"Weave strongly encrypts all of your data locally before transmitting over SSL to Mozilla (or your own server), using a secret phrase that is created by you, and designed to not leave your hard drive. Mozilla does not have access to this secret phrase. Also, The Mozilla Foundation, our parent company, is an international non-profit organization and our business model is not based upon accessing your personal data."

Translation: "We're not Google. You know, the guys whose servers read your e-mail."

Still, nobody wants to be the first victim of a successful hack of Mozilla's Firefox Sync servers or the first company to be fined for failing to live up to compliance regulations. This could prove to be a thorny item in the corporate IT world.

Firefox Sync becomes available as the world hears that Google's Chrome browser has picked up market share at the expense of Internet Explorer and, yes, Firefox.

But Firefox Sync, if executed correctly and if it works as advertised on the iPhone platform, could begin to change the calculus of browser market share and browser usage. With two million iPads per month now flying out of Apple's doors into the market, there could be an awful lot up for grabs. It's as good a time as any for Mozilla to show that, once again, it's still a player not to be ignored.