One of the most cherished and widely used of all Firefox extensions, Xmarks, which automatically synchronizes and backs up a user’s bookmarks, passwords and open tabs is now set to be closed down in the month of January next year. This incredible browser sync extension will be running till January 10th, 2011, after which, all the data on Xmarks servers will be wiped out and no further synchronization will be permitted. The decision to pull the plug on the Xmarks service has been the direct result of the competition in the field posed by both Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome, who have their own dedicated synchronization services.

Xmarks was introduced in the year 2006, by Todd Agulnick as the founder of the company and the service was known as Foxmarks, that delivered synchronization extensions for Firefox, Google Chrome, Internet Explorer and Apple Safari web browsers. However, with the free sync services of Xmarks, the company couldn’t make any money nor profits and with the rising costs of keeping the service alive increasing every day, the company has decided to shut the service altogether. The demise of the Xmarks service has brought on a torrent of comments from numerous uses who have been more than happy with the service and have stated that, they would have in fact paid to use the service as well.

According to Todd Agulnick,

“For four years we have offered the synchronization service for no charge, predicated on the hypothesis that a business model would emerge to support the free service. With that investment thesis thwarted, there is no way to pay expenses, primarily salary and hosting costs. Without the resources to keep the service going, we must shut it down.”

Via Computer World