Google develops browser sync tool for Firefox

While the search giant’s relationship with Mozilla is cosy, its one with Microsoft is less certain

In a boost to Mozilla, Google has created a tool that lets users synchronise the settings of their Firefox browsers across multiple computers.

With Google Browser Sync, users will maintain the same bookmarks, website visits log, saved passwords, and persistent cookies in all their copies of the Mozilla open-source browser.

To enable this continuous synchronisation to happen, users have to install copies of the Google Browser Sync on every computer where they run Firefox, Google says.

This free tool also “remembers” the tabs and windows users had open the last time they used Firefox and gives users the option to open them. One downside is that the tool updates settings every time Firefox is launched, which will increase the time it takes a browser to open, Google says.

Google Browser Sync works with Firefox 1.5 and newer versions. It doesn’t support Internet Explorer, Opera or the Mozilla Suite, which includes the Mozilla Navigator browser.

Google’s development of tools for Firefox that don’t work with IE should be seen in the light of its close relationship with Mozilla, which involves technology collaborations and cross-promotion efforts. Meanwhile, the relationship between Microsoft and Google is at best adversarial and often acrimonious. They compete in search, online services and, increasingly, in desktop and hosted software.

Browsers, especially, are a contentious area between Google and Microsoft because they are an entry point to web search activity. Recently, Google has complained about the new IE, version 7, which is now in beta testing and contains an embedded search box with a drop-down menu set by default to use Microsoft’s search engine, but which includes other options.

However, some have criticised Google for being inconsistent on this point because its search engine is the default choice in the embedded Firefox search box. Firefox now holds an estimated 10% market share.

In April, Google caused a stir when it promoted Firefox on its home page, a rare move and one clearly intended to help Firefox grow its market share. Google also includes Firefox in its Google Pack, a free, downloadable software suite that it distributes and that includes products from Google and other vendors, including Adobe and Symantec, but not Microsoft.

Sundar Pichai, Google’s product management director, won’t comment on the Google-Microsoft rivalry but says several factors played into the decision to develop this tool for Firefox. Because the product is in an early test version, Google doesn’t want to expose it to the wider IE audience, he says.

Pichai won’t commit to making an IE version and says the future of Google Browser Sync will depend on user feedback. The tool’s product manager, Brian Rakowski, says the chance exists to significantly expand the number of synchronisable Firefox settings in future versions.