I had read about the new free browser available in the web, that uses the same Mozilla engine used by Firefox. Recently I downloaded it and tried it. I found it interesting, and useful. Here is the review.
It took me less than hour to download the 10Mb installation file over my 64kbps cable net. The installation was smooth and the post installation setup gave me a deja vu. Yes, it was very similar to Firefox installation. Then I went over the web and read the biography of the browser. It uses the Mozilla eng
ine, no wonder the similarity. I opened the browser, after importing the settings from Firefox which I was already using. The Flock homepage loaded and it said, "Flock, social web browser". I wondered what it could mean, I would find out soon. Initially I had a cold feeling, everything seemed to be like Firefox, I was amazed about the popularity of the browser as I could not find how it was different from Firefox, even the logo was quite similar, Firefox has a logo of globe being stormed by a fire, while flock uses globe with few water droplets. But, despite the striking similarity, something kept me using Flock. Was the the elegent theme? Or the simple and light weight mode, without any extensions? Or those few extra buttons which I was yet to figure out what they were?
Once again I went to do my homework and explored the Flock website, somewhere it said, this is the Mozilla browser custom made for blogging, photo sharing and other socially sha
ring web services, like Flickr, Del.icio.us, Technorati, Photobucket, and various popular blogging and news aggregation services. Soon, I was pulled in, I added my social accounts onto the browser, Accounts and Services menu was useful for this. Now, I can upload a photo onto Flickr in a single click, I am writing this blog from the browsers' own editor which will automatically add it to the blogger. I get all the news from the news tab. I am already a flockstar within a day of use.
The photo button, when clicked will open a photostrip near the toolbar with a slide of photos from flickr and it loads insanely fast. You can download, upload or view them. The news button will open a news sidebar, neatly organized, with different categories and unread news highlighted. You can save the feeds or blog them and do much more. Another amazing feature is the Create snippet feature. You can drag text or image onto this icon in the status bar and tag it. It could be saved for later use.
Grey areas
The versioning has only reached 0.7.1 beta and quite understandably a lot has been left desired. Checked for the extensions available for flock and could find only 3 of them. Also, though the themes tab is there, no themes are listed yet. But, I am not reverting back to firefox, I would like to see flock grow, and hope you people would like it too. It is an entirely different rendering of the Mozilla engine.
Product rating:
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technorati tags:flock, mozilla, firefox, browser, free, opensource, flickr
3 comments:
I have used many many firefox extensions in flock and most work just fine. There are several flock only extensions, most notably Maps Topbar http://extensions.flock.com/extension_detail/6019. And here are a list of my favorite extensions: http://docs.google.com/View?docid=dc7s6mzr_34gz7f7j&revision=_latest
There is also a way to convert a Firefox extension into a Flock extension:
http://extensions.flock.com/extension_detail/4505
Hey Narayan,
Glad to hear you're enjoying Flock! It's always nice to meet new Flockstars.
Regarding your concerns: making more extensions available for Flock and creating/fostering creation of new themes are really high on our priority list for Flock 1.0. Expect to see more in this area as things develop. Also, check out some of the cool extensions for Flock by Tony Farndon at http://flock.spatialviews.com/
Flock on, and drop me an email and I will try to send some Flock swag your way!
Evan Hamilton
Flock Community Ambassador
evan at flock dot com
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