Comment This was already solved by Netscape (Score 3, Informative) 295
Back in Netscape 4.x days I had my netscape profile roaming across three home computers, and several computers at work. It worked great. You could select certain items to roam ... for example, the actual browser preferences file, calendar entries, bookmarks, cookies, etc. I think it might have even let you roam certificates (but maybe not).
I use Mozilla now and I didn't see the roaming functionality in there on a quick check ... probably in NS 7 though.
You could setup to Roam and store your info in either an LDAP database or on an HTTP server (much easier). You could then use SSL for those of you that are concerned with security to roam. Whenever you exited the browser, if you'd changed something (for example, new bookmark), it would update the central profile location with the new files. Nice feature, there were a couple of point releases where it would get confused and you'd wipe out your bookmarks on one system, but that was not a concern since you ended up with copies of everything on multiple computers.
Note that Netscape's roaming support extended to Unix systems too. It was sweet. Too bad Microsoft's browser monopoly killed it off. We won't see real innovation like that anymore ... instead just MS-bastardized standards designed to get you to purchase more of their software so that it will work together (hah).
A lot of you said people wouldn't store their profile info on someone else's network. Most people would though. Most of you store your email on other people's network right now. In this case, I was using my own colocated server and also ran an IMAP server on it to keep my mail in sync.
The biggest problem they had w/roaming was the lack of documentation. You can go back into newsgroup archives and occasionally run across some poor soul trying to figure out what you had to do on the server. Once setup, though, it worked great.
Good to see that we're now going to try and reinvent the wheel. Of course, this wheel will only work with a Microsoft axle, transmission, engine, and body, and it will cost you every time it turns.
I use Mozilla now and I didn't see the roaming functionality in there on a quick check
You could setup to Roam and store your info in either an LDAP database or on an HTTP server (much easier). You could then use SSL for those of you that are concerned with security to roam. Whenever you exited the browser, if you'd changed something (for example, new bookmark), it would update the central profile location with the new files. Nice feature, there were a couple of point releases where it would get confused and you'd wipe out your bookmarks on one system, but that was not a concern since you ended up with copies of everything on multiple computers.
Note that Netscape's roaming support extended to Unix systems too. It was sweet. Too bad Microsoft's browser monopoly killed it off. We won't see real innovation like that anymore
A lot of you said people wouldn't store their profile info on someone else's network. Most people would though. Most of you store your email on other people's network right now. In this case, I was using my own colocated server and also ran an IMAP server on it to keep my mail in sync.
The biggest problem they had w/roaming was the lack of documentation. You can go back into newsgroup archives and occasionally run across some poor soul trying to figure out what you had to do on the server. Once setup, though, it worked great.
Good to see that we're now going to try and reinvent the wheel. Of course, this wheel will only work with a Microsoft axle, transmission, engine, and body, and it will cost you every time it turns.
