Flock’s CEO Bart Decrem expanded the beta over the weekend to 1,007 people, most of whom are now blogging about it.
The product, which was good back in August when I first tested it, is even better today. I’m a big supporter of Flock. I am even writing this post while wearing a Flock tshirt. Flock is definitely the Flickr of browsers. 
The three most powerful tools Flock offers it’s users are bookmarks, blogging and a RSS reader.
Bookmarks
They’ve dropped their propreitary bookmarking engine and have replaced it with del.icio.us. I have a ton of del.icio.us bookmarks - thousands - and it took a while for the browser to chug through them all during the import procedure. But it did, and I now have one hell of an interface into my favorite bookmarking service. Since Flock supports tabbed browsing, I can keep bookmarks open in a separate tab and refer back whenever. Partnering with Del.icio.us is brilliant. I do not know if they have plans to integrate with other social bookmarking sites, but I imagine it would be fairly simple for them to do.
Blogging
The blogging tool was, and remains, absolutely the best I’ve seen. This tool brings flickr pictures directly into the blog tool, allowing simple drag and drop into the post. It’s dual-pane, with both wysiwyg and html interfaces (I actually preferred the old toggle method of changing from html to wysiwyg, but I’m not complaining). Setup is very simple. It just works.
RSS Reader
Flock also has a built in RSS reader that is both dead simple to use and yet powerful enough for heavy users. A simple drop down box can be accessed for any page that allows you to grab the feed for the page you are currently on, and add it to an existing or newly created folder. Feeds can be tagged, and the viewer allows for expanded or collapsed feed viewing.
There are some speed issues with this version, 0.5, but in my opinion it has more than enough features to convince web users by the millions to switch from their default browser and go with Flock. Let’s launch this thing!
I’ve been keeping an eye on Flock. To be honest, the first time I ended up on the Flock site, I was immediately turned off by the ginormous text. But after seeing screenshots and reading about some of the features, how can I ignore it?
Stoked! And as said above… ‘Let’s launch this thing!’
I would be a lot more interested if they would be more open with their concepts. If they would let it out of the bag, they would get a lot more interest. Make it a beta, timebomb it if you have to, just let me see it!
I put my email in their mailing list a while ago. I should check my email, maybe I do have it…
I’ve been using it all day today and while I’ve found many annoyances, and bugs, with a few more fixes I hope the next version goes invite public beta, as much as flock, del.icio.us, wordpress.com can cope with.
I’ve only had mine crash once on closing it after a full days use. I haven’t had any speed issues, its actually very fast in general but then I wasn’t importing thousands of del.icio.us bookmarks.
*thumbs up*
GAH! Make this thing somewhat public already! I’m hearing all this chatter and buzz… but can’t actually take a look see.
Been using it on Linux the last few days - it’s nice on the eyes & has nice features.
A gmail feature simi* to the flickr & blogging features would be sorta neat.
Also, why is it defaulting to yahoo search?
*coughBUYOUT?cough*
Love the concept of Flock! While Firefox has some great overall usability, what does it offer that’s truly revolutionary? Flock as the dashboard for Web 2.0 just makes sense.
I wonder if they’re going to keep functionality constricted to the Web2.0 “elite”: del.icio.us, flickr, etc. While I love del.icio.us, I am a Smugmug addict. (BTW that’s the best photo sharing site for people who CARE about their photos) I want that integration for the blogging tool.
Anyway, Flock is awesome. (I just wish I had it)
Does anybody know, when Flock is going to be released for public use?
Cornelius: when it is ready, today we will be expanding the user base to the “developer preview” some more, after crushing some nasty bugs over the last 3 days.
Really, in the turn of the century everythings turning cute and colourful…and i like it. With the advent of Ajax based web application and the whole Web 2.0 idea compiled with creations like firefox and flock, things are really shaping up nicely for independant devs and bloggers/dreamers.
I cannot believe somebody already suggested that “Flock as the dashboard for Web 2.0 just makes sense.”
Has everyone already drank the ‘Web 2.0′ Kool-Aid?
In any case, Flock is nice to look at and it demonstrates what can be done to better integrate various discovery, communication and interactive services. Not a whole lot that cannot be done w. say Firefox extensions, but too early to judge.
We have to see how easily it can add support for APIs of services of the future, how open it will be to build on … and most importantly, whether it proves valuable enough for users to make the switch again (whatever browser -> Firefox -> Flock). If the target is the tech community, then perhaps there’s not much to worry about; otherwise, anyone who pushes out a new browser does need to worry about helping users get through the learning curve.
Time will tell … either way, please let go of this “Web 2.0″ already
Check Om’s coverage as well: http://gigaom.com/2005/10/20/flock-launches-today/