{"id":18739,"date":"2010-09-29T10:49:25","date_gmt":"2010-09-29T16:49:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/?p=18739"},"modified":"2010-09-29T10:49:25","modified_gmt":"2010-09-29T16:49:25","slug":"alas-xmarks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2010\/09\/29\/alas-xmarks.html","title":{"rendered":"Alas, Xmarks"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"I started using Xmarks about a year ago.\u00a0 Xmarks, formerly Foxmarks, is a bookmark sync tool, letting you share a common set of bookmarks between different machines (folks in an office, or home vs work PCs). Unlike the similar tools that Firefox and Chrome are now offering, though, Xmarks is browser-agnostic — it syncs bookmarks between <\/em>Firefox and Chrome and IE and Safari …<\/p>\n

As someone who uses three different browser platforms, and multiple ones on a given PC, that’s pretty darned useful.<\/p>\n

It also had features for synchronizing open tabs, histories, etc.\u00a0 But the bookmark sync stuff was what grabbed me.<\/p>\n

Alas, the Xmarks people never managed to figure out how to monetize their resource.\u00a0 Hosting billions of bookmarks for millions of machines and users, they tried creating some specialized search\/recommendation systems, but never got much traction (or money) with them. People just wanted bookmark synchronization, and that’s something Xmarks did very, very well.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, doing something very, very well doesn’t pay for people, or hardware, or bandwidth. So Xmarks will go dark at the beginning of next year. They write of the experience here<\/a>, and offer advice on what to do next here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

More unfortunately, there’s not a lot to <\/em>do.\u00a0 There are no cross-browser bookmark sync tools out there.\u00a0 Chrome and Firefox and IE’s tools for doing it are limited to the platforms in questions (and the Firefox Sync tool gets very sketchy ratings).<\/p>\n

A lot of people are clamoring for Xmarks to adopt a charge model, like so many other utility vendors; I’d certainly pay for it at the moment, but I suspect (from seeing similar efforts) that only a fraction of the voices chiming in would end up doing so.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, by making the announcement over three months before they go dark, Xmarks is leaving open those sorts of possibilities, or that someone might still buy them out, or that someone will come up with a real alternative down before then.\u00a0 So I’m not taking any irrevocable steps, yet.<\/p>\n

I do hope some alternative to losing this service comes along. It’s hardly the end of the world, of course, but it’s a real nice Quality of Life feature that I’d just as soon not do without.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I started using Xmarks about a year ago.\u00a0 Xmarks, formerly Foxmarks, is a bookmark sync tool, letting you share a common set of bookmarks between different machines (folks in an office, or home vs work PCs). Unlike the similar tools that Firefox and Chrome are now offering, though, Xmarks is browser-agnostic — it syncs bookmarks … Continue reading “Alas, Xmarks”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":18740,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18739","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-my-computer"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/xmarks.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":16611,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2010\/01\/29\/new-machine-chrome-configuration.html","url_meta":{"origin":18739,"position":0},"title":"New Machine: Chrome configuration","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 29-Jan-10 6:52pm","format":false,"excerpt":"I haven't gone bugnutscrazy over adding extensions to Chrome now that it supports them. Part of that is that Chrome remains a secondary browser for me. It is tempting to experiment with making it a primary one, instead of Firefox, but that experiment will wait for another day. In the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "My Computer"","block_context":{"text":"My Computer","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/my-computer"},"img":{"alt_text":"chrome","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/chrome.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":19392,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2010\/12\/02\/lastpass-xmarks-two-taste-treats-that-taste-great-together.html","url_meta":{"origin":18739,"position":1},"title":"LastPass + Xmarks – Two taste treats that taste great together!","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 2-Dec-10 7:26am","format":false,"excerpt":"So a couple months ago, Xmarks announced that it was going under. Formerly Foxmarks, the bookmark syncing service had deployed across multiple browsers (including the three I use at various times -- Firefox, Chrome, and IE), and was one of those huge Quality of Life boosters you never appreciate until\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "My Computer"","block_context":{"text":"My Computer","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/my-computer"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/xmarks.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":17072,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2010\/04\/08\/unblogged-bits-for-thu-8-apr-2010-801pm.html","url_meta":{"origin":18739,"position":2},"title":"Unblogged Bits for Thu, 8 Apr 2010, 8:01PM","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 8-Apr-10 6:01pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Links (most recent first) that caught my eye, but did not warrant full-blown blog entries .... Westboro Baptist Church Is Too Awful Even For The KKK - Man, when even the KLAN thinks you're too hateful to associate with ... Strawman Building in Defense of Treason in Defense of Slavery\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Potpourri"","block_context":{"text":"Potpourri","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/potpourri"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":25691,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/01\/24\/computer-upgrade-2012.html","url_meta":{"origin":18739,"position":3},"title":"Computer Upgrade 2012","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 24-Jan-12 1:48pm","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm getting my work laptop upgrade to Windows 7 this Friday, so I'm taking a look at what I'm going to need to re-install after the deed is done (since it will be a reimage). \u00a0This is the list I'll work from. The PC Techs will get Office, Visio, and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blogging - Technical"","block_context":{"text":"Blogging - Technical","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/blogging-technical"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/old-computer-300x234.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":17356,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2010\/05\/12\/sticking-with-firefox-rather-than-chrome-for-the-nonce.html","url_meta":{"origin":18739,"position":4},"title":"Sticking with Firefox rather than Chrome for the nonce","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 12-May-10 11:42am","format":false,"excerpt":"I ran an experiment over the last week to see if I could replace my Firefox browser with Chrome.\u00a0 I've been a long-time FF user (since back in July '04, back when it was still in beta), but spent a lot of time running Chrome in parallel during the Great\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "My Computer"","block_context":{"text":"My Computer","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/my-computer"},"img":{"alt_text":"firefox","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/05\/firefox.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":44675,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2014\/08\/28\/a-convenient-time-to-list-my-chrome-extensions.html","url_meta":{"origin":18739,"position":5},"title":"A convenient time to list my Chrome extensions","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 28-Aug-14 9:42am","format":false,"excerpt":"Extensions are the add-ons that are the real reason most folk hate changing browsers. Feature sets, memory, performance, those come and go, but that familiar, customized experience is why we keep coming back. And why it's such a bother when stuff stops working, or when a new (or updated) extension\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/moving-Beaker%2Bfire.gif.gif?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18739","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18739"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18739\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18740"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18739"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18739"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18739"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}