Flock Web Browser

[Dapper Dan]

By way of this thread, I learned about Mozilla's "Flock" browser which is based of Firefox 3. I've been using it for just a day now, but my initial impression is that I like it a lot.

cousinlucky suggested a thread about Flock to see what other members thought about it. Have you tried it? What are your impressions?

[oz]

I'm not familiar with it but might try it out.

It would have to do everything that Firefox does before I'd use it, including running all my current extensions. Adblock Plus, with some add-ons for it are an absolute must if I'm going to browse the web these days.

[Dapper Dan]

I'm not familiar with it but might try it out.

It would have to do everything that Firefox does before I'd use it, including running all my current extensions. Adblock Plus, with some add-ons for it are an absolute must if I'm going to browse the web these days.

So far, it seems to do all the above. Like I say, I'm still experimenting with it. I guess I should have included a link for those who might want to give it a go. You can download it here but check your distro's package manager first. I was surprised there was a CRUX port for it!

[GNU-Fan]

I read about it but came soon to the conclusion that I won't install or even use it. I simply object to the idea of having so much "media services" built into one single program. Also, I'm not too much of a fan of that "social networking" thing and I have also some privacy concerns about this--even if it is accessed with Free Software.

[oz]

Thanks for the link.

It's not in the regular Arch repos, but is in AUR (arch user repository). However, it appears to be a 32-bit version and I run 64-bit, so I'll probably have to pass on it for now.

Out of curiosity, is it based on Firefox 2, or Firefox 3?

[oz]

Unfortunately, it also appears that it can't run the Adblock Plus Element Hiding Helper extension, which is another must have for me.

[nelamvr6]

A bit too minimalist for my taste, and I really have no need for the social interaction aspects.

Meh.

I'll keep Firefox...

[Dapper Dan]

I've been doing side by side comparrisons (albeit unscientific) between load times of Flock, Firefox and Opera. My findings are that Flock has the slowest load time, followed by Firefox which is noticably faster. Opera seems by far the fastest, loading pages very quickly.

I used to run Opera years ago and got away from it. I'll have to say this newest version is lightening fast and easy to use. Maybe Google should have bought Opera rather than creating Chrome (also fast in Windows...)

[oz]

I used to run Opera years ago and got away from it.

Hi, Dan

Me, too... I was a registered (and paid-up) Opera user for a long time, but around version 6.x it totally lost my interest. I've tried it probably a couple of dozen times since then, but can't stick with it, and no longer care for it.

It's gonna take one heck of a browser to pull me away from Firefox. I'll still try other options, though.

[i92guboj]

I've been doing side by side comparrisons (albeit unscientific) between load times of Flock, Firefox and Opera. My findings are that Flock has the slowest load time, followed by Firefox which is noticably faster. Opera seems by far the fastest, loading pages very quickly.

Yup, flock is firefox+a crapton of aditional load, so it's not surprising. Opera has always been faster in everything than firefox. Firefox is very featureful, but gtk2+xul is not the fastest choice to render an interface, I guess. Gecko doesn't help either.

I used to run Opera years ago and got away from it. I'll have to say this newest version is lightening fast and easy to use. Maybe Google should have bought Opera rather than creating Chrome (also fast in Windows...)

Gosh, no. They already have a big monopoly-to-be, don't let it grow even more. I don't like when enterprises grow too strong to control all the data we move from one computer to the next. Nobody should be able to concentrate a similar amount of power under a single head. And much less if closed source products are involved, cause then we only get total obscurity about what's being done with our personal info.

Hi, Dan

Me, too... I was a registered (and paid-up) Opera user for a long time, but around version 6.x it totally lost my interest. I've tried it probably a couple of dozen times since then, but can't stick with it, and no longer care for it.

It's gonna take one heck of a browser to pull me away from Firefox. I'll still try other options, though.

My main concern with opera (besides it being closed source) is that it completely ignores users of dark color schemes. Some parts of the interface are unreadable if you choose a dark color scheme. I wouldn't care about the look that much (and I don't) but when it's a health related question -as I already explained on their forums-, and they ignore such a simple request, then they lose my interest.

Many users have requested a solution for this over the years. The situation hasn't changed at all.


About flock, it's been around for quite some time now, I never liked the concept, as I also dislike the concept of chrome. I don't like what they are selling to me.