Google's Firefox "Browser Sync" is quite innovative

With Google and the Mozilla Foundation -- who makes the popular Firefox web browser -- being best buddies, Google has bypassed the 85%-plus  marketshare of Microsoft's Internet Explorer web browser and has launched a feature intended to work solely with the Mozilla Firefox web browser. This new feature, called "Browser Sync", allows a customer to synchronize settings across Firefox browsers on different computers in different locations. What is the point of all this, you may ask?

Well, for starters, those who like to use home and work computers like they are the same machine are in luck. Google Browser Sync copies cookies, bookmarks, saved passwords and other preferences across multiple (more than two) Firefox installations. This is so that the customer receives the same web browsing experience no matter where they are. Of course, the Firefox browser must be installed at all locations. But to those who even take Mozilla Firefox with them on a USB keychain drive, you can sync your Firefox installation with the "portable" install sitting on your USB drive as well. Any PC in the world then becomes your own personal Firefox machine.

This is a feature I see as highly innovative -- Google is again giving customers what they want and what will keep them using Google's services. A customer needs a Google account, of course, to use Google's Browser Sync. But, to have the same experience in the web browsing world among different computers is no small matter, as long as you're careful using this service across publicly-accessible PCs. But, Google Browser Sync can encrypt your settings that are shared across the network as well, which is a requirement in my opinion.