Oox
On openoox.com, each saved site appeared as a visual tile (an Oox), importable from existing browser bookmarks—see labeled tiles in the figure.
Documented history of Openoox
Openoox was a French web service that treated the browser start page as a personal, cloud-synchronized surface: search, visual bookmarks called Oox, folders, and social discovery in one layout.
Independent archive. This site is not the original product and is not affiliated with former operators. There is no signup or login. Third-party directories describe the historical service as discontinued; current operation could not be independently verified when this archive was published.
Background
The problem Openoox addressed
For years, most people entered the web through a default search box, a carrier-imposed portal, or a flat list of browser bookmarks. Historical interviews with co-founder Julien Danjon describe the origin of Openoox in work helping beginners navigate the web—and in the frustration of start pages that added little beyond search.
Contemporary reporting positioned Openoox at the intersection of bookmark managers, personalized portals, and social discovery—arguing that users wanted one portable openoox.com start page where favorites, search, folders, and recommendations could follow them across devices and browsers.
Founder interviews in Maddyness and FrenchWeb (2014) describe a richer start page with one-click access to frequent actions, with press comparisons to earlier portal experiments such as Netvibes.
Discovery
Interest-based discovery (historical description)
Historical onboarding and press materials describe discovery through thematic folders, the Oox Store, recommendations (including Genius in 2014 reporting), and the Ooxers community—visible in the header of archived openoox.com screenshots.
| News & media | Folder themes such as actualités and administration in French walkthroughs; news-related Oox on user start pages in press screenshots (e.g. L’Équipe, 01net tiles). |
|---|---|
| Culture | Cinéma, musique, and entertainment folders—matching labels like Cinéma série and Musique on archived openoox.com interfaces. |
| Sport & lifestyle | Sport, shopping, and leisure folders cited in Bonjour Idée and visible on historical UI folder strips. |
| Professional | Professionnel and similar personal folders for work-related Oox collections. |
| Community | Oox Store (directory) and Ooxers (users) tabs on openoox.com—social discovery of public folders and popular Oox. |
Organization
Bookmarks as first-class objects
Folders
Public, private, and collaborative folders; Journal du Net reported 100,000+ links and folders during early beta.
Private search
ITespresso (2015) described search across one’s own archived articles, videos, and links on openoox.com.
Sharing
Social layer on personal collections
2014 reporting compared Openoox registration to joining a network: invitations, following updates to shared folders, and discovering sites via other users’ public collections. Founder interviews mention community terms such as Ooxers.
Browser extension listings (Chrome, Firefox) pointed the new-tab page to openoox.com—part of the cross-browser promise in WebLife’s interview with Julien Danjon.
Chronology
Selected milestones
2014
Public beta and press coverage
01net, FrenchWeb, Journal du Net, and Maddyness document a France/UK-facing beta and co-founders Danjon and Chalumeau.
Dec 2015
€1M funding
Capital Finance and ITespresso report a €1 million round; ITespresso names Lorenzo Nuccio among founders. Funds linked to a CES Las Vegas launch planned for early 2016.
Later
Service discontinuation (reported)
Startup directories and third-party status pages describe Openoox as inactive. See tiered sources.