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Every time I use Flock I wonder if I am seeing the future of software. You can’t not be impressed by how well Flock integrates all this. For a company such as Microsoft, and, for that matter, Apple, which make software that ties you to a personal computer these are the clarion calls of future users’ new passions. The warning bells should be ringing.

Built on the solid framework of Firefox, Flock offers quite a spread of goodies for hyper-connected users who spend time collaborating, sharing, submitting, and browsing social media sites.

Flock, a Firefox-based Web browser that plays up social networking online, has raised $15 million in a fourth round of funding led by Fidelity Ventures. The company plans to use the funds to expand its research and development, marketing, and global expansion efforts. To date, the company has raised an estimated $30 million.

Perhaps they'll end up sharing revenue or ad space, a business model that's being employed with certain partners by Flock, whose new Web browser aggregates content from Facebook, Twitter, and other social sites. For example, Flock shares some of its ad revenue with Photobucket, which promotes the new browser on its site, says Flock CEO Shawn Hardin.

Flock was launched in November 2007 and is growing fast. CEO Shawn Hardin projects that, with more than one million downloads to date, Flock will have tens of millions of users by 2009.

In honor of Earth Day, Flock recently launched a special edition of their popular browser with an unprecedented promise, to donate 10% of revenue generated from the niche browser's searches to charity; and after winning an award for community at SXSW, the charity will be selected by none other than the Flock community itself.

The People button turns the sidebar into a nifty way to track your social-networking accounts. Flock is the only way to go if Twittering, Facebooking, or YouTubing is how you spend most of your time online.

When we looked at Flock 0.9 last year, the social Web browser showed a lot of potential. Now that it's over the 1.0 hump, the Flock team has made good on the application's promise.

However, what really makes this new version of Flock green isn't the background - it's the content. In partnership with Discovery Networks, New York Times, Yahoo, TreeHugger, Grist, Ecorazzi and AllTop, the Eco-edition comes pre-loaded with all the best environmental content and features from these varied resources.

If you find yourself racing around the Web to keep up with your pals on Flickr, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and similar sites, there is a Web browser built with you in mind.