Other Systems & Languages
I started using this browser yesterday. I was looking for something superior to firefox since it get's really slow and starts slow even though I have gone back to zero plugins (no thanks to a certain backup program).
It was pretty funny while using it I click on a skype installer to update my current installation, and if you go to the skywebsite you will see it has a Flock-like theme, it blended with the browser perfectly. I also went to and downloaded frostwire which, as you might imagine also had a blue theme.
Anyways, now it's today, I've kinda avoided using this browser because it's kinda sterile looking, I get a barren feeling, and I've emotionally become used to firefox. Yet at the same time it is much better looking then firefox, and I just noticed that the ugly google icon is abset and instead a yahoo one icon inside the search field itself (nice job).
I've had flock set as my default browser and so it kept popping up, but it didn't bug me that much because after a while, I noticed it popped so fast. I thought about how browsers eventually start slowing after a while, seemingly hours. But flock, if not faster, is consistantly fast. I was wondering why if it is based on the mozilla core it seems to be much more efficient (I suppose it was tweaked or revamped?).
The only cons I can think of was the lack of plugins (but after thorough thought all these plugins I tried for firefox - a lot of them - didn't do much for me and actually annoyed me, the most useful being a switch-to-previous-tab plugin which got on my nerves to since often I wanted to switch back to the tab next to the one I was using. And I also found that having weather and time data was better displayed from the system tray since I'm not always using a browser).
Another con: I find it annoying that when I click a link a new instance of flock pops up, I bet there is a setting to prevent that though. Let's see how fast I can find it... uh oh, ok I went to options and found it's already set to open in a new tab, a bug? But ironically it's the demonstration of how fast it can load another instance of itself that's impressed me and won me over. I hope the tab bug get's fixed soon.
One last thing, I'm ready to see whether or not firefox or flock uses the most memory (with only one tab / page displayed). Let's see...
Interesting and surprising: Flock is stead at 73,722 and shows no cpu usage. Firefox is steady at 29,200 and just dropped to 22,284. Opera, which I just launched, is steady at 17... okay it just dropped to 16,788. Too bad opera is so ugly and doesn't render yahoo and java sites correctly. Maybe rendering things correctly requires more memory?
If you don't have much memory to spare than firefox is the better choice. It would be even better if someone made a flock-themed skin for it (I bet the flock development team wouldn't like that, but it might turn users your way.)
That interesting: I just tried to launch another instance of flock like you can do with firefox, but it won't. It must be detecting that it's already open. I'd have to say preventing a new instance of flock via the exe file is not good - why should I be bothered to do so from the main browser: I like using short cuts.
Oh, I just discovered why a new instance was popping up whenevefr I clicked a link, because that is one of the options.
But for now I'll stick with firefox, but only because it has the session memory plugin (which allows you to restore various times that you left rather then only the last one). I'll ask the one who made that plugin to give flock a look.
rapidfire
P.S. I hav a site at http://myspace.com/pygmyspace
mctones
The only cons I can think of was the lack of plugins
As flock is based on a firefox codebase, most firefox addons will work in flock. Just go to mozilla addons and install as you would in firefox, you will get a popup warning that it may not work, then it will install (the only ones that do not work are those that have a hook to firefox bookmarks in my experience).
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mc as in scottish not hammer
mikesz
Your testing of memory usage is flawed! I recently got rid of firefox as a development tool because it has a fatal flaw that causes my development system to crash if I have too many windows opened with it. The memory leak/consumption is NOT noticable until you have it opened for some time. FireFox "claim" that this is the way their "caching" algorithm works BUT it has NO WAY to put the brakes on consuming ALL the memory available and in my case it crashes and even worse, has crashed my system regularly. I applied ALL the tweaks recommended on their support site and none of them worked as expected. So, you need to let it run or some time and open a lot of windows to see the HOG in action, not just open it.
I expect that flock has the SAME fatal flaw but don't know that for sure as I have not tested it and based my profoundly distressing experience with FireFox, I am reluctant to waste any more of my life on poorly engineered solution that generate more heartburn than customer satisfaction.
As always, IMHO, though the FF "problem" is a reality and not my opinion. 8-)
Neo
I liked flock right until I tried the beta 4 of firefox 3 it just leaves flock standing on performance on OSX. I shall go back to Flock once they base their browser on the firefox 3 code base.
Good browser so can't wait till it uses the new code.
Evan Hamilton
Hey Neo,
We will be moving to the Firefox3 codebase shortly after Mozilla officially launches Firefox3...doing it now would be silly, it's in beta. :)
Evan Hamilton
Community Ambassador
evan at flock dot com
------------------------------
blog.evanhamilton.com
djps
I am an Opera fan. When rapidfire says opera is ugly, well really it just means that he does not like the look of it, and that is OK, it would be a very boring world if we all liked the same thing.
If rapidfire is concerned about the look of Opera there is a very large variety of custom skins available which can be readily exchanged on Opera ( no having to restart your browser as in Firefox).
I like Opera for a wide variety of reasons. Among them is that it has been the first to install many features which are now standard on many other browsers - such as tabbed browsing and mouse gestures or speed dial which I am sure will appear in some form in future versions of Firefox and IE. It has done this while remaining remarkably efficient in its use of the computer's resources. It is highly customisable and richly featured (I also use it as my email client - something that is important to me given the way I work).
I know that the Yahoo thing is a pain but I blame Yahoo for not supporting Opera not the other way around. If Yahoo were standards compliant there would not be a problem, and I believe standards are important.
Fortunately I have read about the place that IE8 will be standards compliant in its default mode and I hope that will encourage more web developers towards observing strict standards in the future.
However I also like Flock, and I think the people there have done a great job. I am now using it daily to support my blogging, and Flock is very good and getting better at providing what I need to do that.
Put it another way, I do not think there is a single best browser out there. Different browsers will suit different people's needs. Some will want fully featured browsers with lots of customisation available and with many controls visible up front, will appreciate the complexity and will be happy to spend a few hours learning how to use its controls. Others will want something much more simple and sleek that they can without thinking and to satisfy their needs they will be happy with the most straight forward default settings. Some people will like the look of one browser or skin, some another. Some, like me, might use different browsers at different times for different purposes. Some people like coffee ice cream and some like lemon sherbet ice cream - isn't great that we can celebrate all this increasingly diverse choice of ways we have of utilising and enjoying the good things that the web has to offer. Thank you to the people in Flock, Opera and Firefox for contributing to that, there is room for them all.
I suspect that in the future we might see the wide use of a number of different browsers or heavily customised versions of the same same browsers coming with emphasis on different kinds of built in functionality to suit different kinds of user. I know some will like philosophy behind version 1 of Firefox to keep it simple and let people customise their browser with the extensions they want, but Firefox seems to me to have lost its way a bit with this and I do not want to have to spend hours searching for and trying out different extensions many of which are bug riddled and introduce who knows what security risks.
I just wish people would get out of saying that the browser they like is the best and then get into childish fights of the near name calling and 'mine is better than yours because it is blue and everyone know that blue is a better colour than green', sort. To each his own and instead let us provide simple factual information to help each of us choose the one that suits each one of us best, the best browser is the one (or the ones - if like me you use more than one) that do the job you need doing.
Anyway for me the first piece of software run each morning is my file synchronisation and back up, the second is Opera, then my personal organiser and then Flock. So thank you to the people at Flock for providing me with this very useful tool.
ZippyDSMlee
Been testing Flock to my loaded FF flock uses 10 MB give or take compared to my fully loaded FF and its usely 10+ not 10-, still it runs more smoothly than FF thats not bad but not worth changing over for.
LakotaGhost
Well I just took firefox out of my computer after using it for a long time. I am just tired of it and I put flock in, which is somewhat faster for me and much nicer. I like flock. Some of the themes I used (not FireFox skins) for my computer FireFox did not like at all and flock has no problem with any of them.
So thank you for flock, I shall be using Flock from now on and I sincerely hope that someone creates some "Themes" for the Flock browser. I am not overly fond of Blue and White all the time.
To me, any browser that works, whether it be Opera, IE, Firefox or any other is good if they work correctly and do the job. Just some people prefer one over the other and insist others use that too, which is silly. Use what you wish and what makes you happy.
Well have a great day everyone.
Lakota
http://abe.midco.net/prairiespirit/index.html
Dana
Are there any background themes for flock that i can get?
Neo
I shall look forward to that I just hope it will not take you to long so I can have my browser back.
SuezanneCB
Flock versus Firefox versus Opera - what a delightful battle to be a part of!
They're all excellent! I have them all, FF 2 and the latest FF beta, two released versions of Opera and the latest beta. Oh, that reminds me to update Kestrel !
SuezanneC Baskerville - SuezanneCB - suezanne at some other places - Sue Baskerville
http://suezannecbaskerville.wordpress.com
http://suebaskerville.com
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