Filed under: Internet, Freeware, Browsers

Flock 2 is here, continues to underwhelm



"Get ready to meet your favorite browser! " Flock 2 tells me at the end of its installation process. Ok Flock, I'm ready. Blow me away!

Sadly, I'm immediately greeted by a cheesey stick figure flash intro to the new features. What the hell am I getting myself into?

As far as basic browsing goes it performs as well as Firefox, which makes sense since it's pretty much Firefox that someone someone attacked with a Bedazzler. Despite the extra baggage, Acidtests.org scored it the same as my Firefox 3.0.3 install, and I didn't really notice any difference in my everyday browsing.

What do all the extras gain me, though?


I don't care about having "Top Digg Stories" in my address bar. The built in newsreader? Google reader is much more useful.

Twitter integration is all fine and dandy, but again, nothing that I need. I'm a Digsby user, and I find it a much more logical and efficient way to stay on top of my status updates and direct messages.

The media bar is a nice idea, but why not ship it with support for services like Last.fm or MySpace music? I'd use it a lot more for listening to tunes while I surf than I would for browsing through Flickr photos. Using Digg in the bar is just silly, as you're mostly presented with a slew of Digg badges with the odd thumbnail thrown in here or there.

The blog editor still doesn't allow browsing for local images to upload. That's fine if you're a) using a photo hosting service, b) a jerk and you hotlink all your images, or c) you like FTPing all your pics first and then linking to them, but when Scribefire and Live Writer can both do it, why bother with Flock's editor?

I'm left wanting something that's actually better or faster and not just additional. Ultimately Flock just tries to do too much, and in the end it becomes tiresome and I head back to my trusty Firefox install.

Indeed, I have met my favorite browser, and it's still Firefox. Thanks for trying, Flock, now get out of my computer.