Thoughts on web development and technologies by Peter Gasston
Flock 0.9: Powerful, Complex, Not For Me
After what seems like an eternity, the latest version of the Flock browser has been released. It features a new user interface, and integration with a wider number of media services, YouTube being a notable example, as well as a new feature called My World, which displays your feeds, news and media on one page.
I think they’ve made a tremendous effort to harness the energy of the social web, but I think this release just reinforces that this is not a browser for me. I blog, I use flickr and del.icio.us, I read lots of feeds, so on paper this should be perfect for me. In fact, the reason I use these services is because they’re web-based, and having their functionality implemented into the browser just doesn’t provide an advantage for me.
It also feels like there’s been an extra level of complexity added; when you first load up, there are a bewildering array of options available to you. Again, I’m not saying that’s a bad thing, it just doesn’t provide any incentive for me to use it.
If you’re heavily invested in the social web or web-based media, you’ll probably find lots to like in Flock. While I admire the planning and thought processes that have gone into making it, I can’t find a single outstanding reason for me to quit Firefox just yet.
mark [July 10th, 2007, 11:06 pm; Permalink]
Not for me either. I would rather just like a plain surfing experience with a couple of extensions in firefox.