It’s not a huge surprise, with all the major web browsers adding their own bookmark sync services, but Xmarks (formerly Foxmarks) is shutting down in January.
I figure I’ll just use Firefox Sync, Chrome sync, Opera Link, etc. to share bookmarks between the desktop and laptop, but what I really liked Xmarks for was its ability to sync different browsers together. I’m always switching between Chrome, Firefox, Opera and Safari (and occasionally IE when I’m on a Windows box) and it’s nice to have them all on the same set of bookmarks.
I guess it’s back to periodically exporting from my main browser and importing in the secondary ones, unless I find a tool or find the time to read up on the bookmarks formats and write one.
Update: Xmarks lives!
Update 2: And now it’s dead again, for good this time. These days I use Floccus Bookmark Sync (my review).
i just use delicious; it has an extension that syncs with firefox, probably also with chrome, but you can use the page at least from any computer or browser.
1. The Xmarks folks are looking into a pay model. http://www.pledgebank.com/XmarksPremium
2. Some other companies are looking to fill the void — LastPass is one of them, which would be great as far as I’m concerned.
@Andrea: I use Delicious a lot, but for a slightly different set of bookmarks. I’m not sure why I haven’t tried to merge them, now that I think about it. Time to look into Chrome, Safari & Opera integration…
@Dave: Thanks for the update. $10/year for the service doesn’t seem too bad, but I don’t think I’ll rely on them getting enough pledges/customers to keep things going. Even if they do, I should probably look into writing a local sync tool anyway as a programming exercise.