GET GOMBOT: Help us murder passwords

[cbea...@mozilla.com]

The Mozilla Identity Team is reimagining the password manager, code named Gombot. We're building a beautiful new interface, and you'll be able to access your passwords from all your devices. We've also added new security features, like PIN locking, to further protect the sites that matter to you the most.

We're initially offering Gombot as a Chrome extension (*), but we have a Firefox add-on, iOS app, and Android app already in the pipeline.

We need you and your local community help to find bugs and make Gombot better. Get Gombat at: https://gombot.org/

(*) We released a Chrome extension first to test the viability of bringing Gombot to other platforms. Fret not - the Firefox add-on is already baking in the oven.

[Rubén Martín]

El 15/01/13 02:34, cbea...@mozilla.com escribió:

> The Mozilla Identity Team is reimagining the password manager, code named Gombot. We're building a beautiful new interface, and you'll be able to access your passwords from all your devices. We've also added new security features, like PIN locking, to further protect the sites that matter to you the most.

Great to know about this project.

Can you give us a bit more background on the motivations and goals of
this project and how is it different from similar solutions? When is
this going public? Do we have a announcement article or similar to localize?

I guess we're going to be asked a lot about this :)

Thanks!

--
Rubén Martín [Nukeador]
Mozilla Reps Mentor
http://www.mozilla-hispano.org
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[cbea...@mozilla.com]

Ruben – We haven't made any public announcement. We're in closed invite-only alpha at this point. I'm attaching the longer-winded text below that should answers all of your questions.

==========================================


Introducing Gombot - a Mozilla Labs experiment to re-imagine the password manager
Some people consider passwords the bane of their online life. Yet (good) passwords are important. They safeguard your personal information and keeping good password hygiene can be paramount to your safety. Yet password management is hard - ideally you have different passwords for each site you use. These passwords should be long (the longer the better) and not made up of easy to guess words. Unfortunately what makes a password great is the same thing which makes them hard to remember.

Mozilla Labs conceived an experiment to built a password manager which works across your digital devices and is incredibly easy to use. This password manager, code-named Gombot, is specifically built with a "less but better" design philosophy.

# The Gombot Experiment
Gombot is a password manager which you install in the form of an extension. Once installed Gombot allows you to save the username and password for any site you visit - and when you go back to the site, Gombot will remember your credentials and fill them in for you. Further Gombot can protect your sensitive passwords (e.g. your online banking password or your social network account) with a PIN.

The initial alpha version of Gombot is made available to a small group of testers. We expect bugs and we know that we miss a lot of features in this first version. Based on the feedback from our alpha tester community we will revise the product and make a beta version available to the public.

Stay tuned and please sign up for our alpha list if you feel adventurous (we don't expect any fatal crashes or loss of data but as always with alpha software - we can't guarantee anything And do let us know if you have questions or feedback. You can find the Gombot team on IRC (irc.mozilla.org / #gombot).

# FAQ

- How is Gombot different to the built-in password manager in Firefox?
Gombot is designed to work cross-platform, i.e. it will support different browsers and mobile phone operating systems. This allows you to take your passwords with you from device to device. Further Gombot introduces additional security and convenience features such as PIN-protected passwords.

- Why have you released Gombot as a Chrome extension first?
Gombot is an experiment. As such we want to see how creating a browser extension for a browser other than Firefox works. Fret not - we will soon have a Firefox Add-on and mobile versions for Android, iOS and [QUESTION: Firefox OS?] other browsers/mobile phones will follow.

- Will Gombot replace the built-in password manager in Firefox?
We don't know. Gombot is a very early stage experiment and we have no specific plans for its future just yet.

- What does Gombot mean?
Well, first of all it's a cute robot. Who got his name from the Hungarian word gombot - which means button. Like the button you have to press to sign into a website. This won't be the final name of the product.

[Majken Connor]

The answer for "Why have you released Gombot as a Chrome extension first?"
could be a bit more informative. Were there more specific reasons to choose
chrome first? Maybe you're working with someone who developed chrome first,
or it had a feature ready that Firefox doesn't yet that Gombot depends on?
If it really was to see if we'd be able to do it cross-browser maybe change
the language to emphasize this eg: "Because it's important for this project
to succeed on platforms other than Firefox, we chose to develop for Chrome
first to get a better idea of the feasibility and the obstacles we would
hit."

I find the second half of the current answer a bit odd. The question wasn't
about whether or not there would be a Firefox version of the extension. I
think for many people it will be assumed that there would be a Firefox
version. I'd take this out into its own question: "When will Firefox
versions be available?" Because it isn't really directly related to the
question it almost feels like you're trying to misdirect me away from the
question of "why chrome" which makes me more "suspicious" than simply
having a chrome version first.

In the first FAQ question "Further Gombot introduces" - would "Future
Gombot releases" be what you mean?

Aside from those FAQ critiques the project sounds interesting! Looking
forward to following along!

-Kensie

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[cbea...@mozilla.com]

Thank you for your email, Majken. My apologies if we didn't make the purpose of this specific experiment clear in our communication.

Gombot is an experiment in building a "password manager for the rest of us". One of the important criteria in the product is the notion that we don't lock users into a specific platform or form factor. We don't win if we build a product which forces the user into a Firefox-only environment - which is also the reason why Firefox Sync is based on an open protocol and is implemented in solutions which span browsers and devices.

In the particular case of this experiment - we know that we can build the experience we are looking for as a Firefox add-on. What we didn't know is if we can build it as a Chrome extension. So we did. And as this is an early stage experiment we want to avoid building a multi-browser/multi-platform solution just to test out some basic assumptions on the user experiences. So we went with the Chrome extension first. Once we are a tiny bit further into the testing, the Firefox add-on and solutions for mobile phones will follow.

Best,
Crystal Beasley

[Yoe One Ariestya Niovitta]

Could I share it?

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--
Regards,

Yoe One Ariestya Niovitta
@yoeonee <https://twitter.com/YoeOnee>

[Crystal Beasley]

Yoe –

Yes, we're asking for alpha testers for a first release!

c

[Aleksandar Savic]

I would like to help, could you send me details :)

Aleksandar Savic
------------------
(Mozilla Representative)

mail: aleks...@mozilla.ba
tel: + 387 67 113 1 113
web: http://www.aleksandars.tk/

[Irvin Chen]

Hi Beasley,

It's been more than a month and I haven't seem this article publish on
anyplace,
what's the recent status?

(we'd prepared the translated intro to be sharing, is it ok to release the
article?)

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