October 21, 2005

So you may have heard of Flock, the new social browser based on Mozilla/Firefox code. It is made for blogging, Flickr, (other web apps) and includes an iPod-like interface for some things. Did I mention you can now download the developer release? (More inside)

Here's the email announcment: --- Hello friends of Flock, We can't wait any longer. Today, we are pleased to invite you to try what will very soon become the Flock Developer Preview. "Developer Preview?" you ask? Well, let's put it this way. We know there are some good ideas already baked into Flock -- inspired by the way we all already use the web. And we've been busting our butts to get the code out there so we can start getting feedback from the bleeding edge. We are working as fast and as hard as humanly possible to get the browser to a quality to support users, not just developers ;-) and we are putting the infrastructure to create an open community where we hope everyone will feel welcome. We are a small team and would love your assistance in making this happen! So there you have it, in the spirit of open source, here's how to get the Flock Developer Preview. DOWNLOADING Log in here: http://www.flock.com/developer/download/preview/ username: caveat password: emptor Follow the link to download what's right for you: Windows, Linux, or Mac. BEFORE YOU INSTALL If you have tried the v0.2 version of Flock from way back in August, you must remove your current folder containing Flock user profile data. You will lose your preferences. The folder is named "Flock." Here's where to find it. WINDOWS Follow this path: Documents and Settings\[your user name]\Application Data\Mozilla\Flock In the file browser, you'll need to go to Tools>Folder Options>View and specify that you want to view hidden folders. LINUX Follow this path: /home/[your user name]/.mozilla/flock MAC OSX Follow this path: /Users/[your user name]/Library/Application Support/Flock/ INSTALLING On Windows XP: - Double-click Flock_Setup.exe -- don't be fooled, Flock is not as polished as having an installer may lead you to believe. On OS X: - Double-click the flock-0.4.8-en-US.mac.dmg file - Double-click the Flock disk image - Drag the Flock application icon to your Applications folder. Launching the application from the disk image will NOT work - If you are prompted to authenticate, type in the administrator password for your computer - Navigate to your Applications folder and launch the Flock browser by double-clicking on the Flock icon On Linux: - Open a terminal window and use the "cd" command to navigate to the directory that contains the flock.tar.gz file - tar xzf flock-0.4.8-en-US.linux-i686 .tar.gz - cd flock - ./flock AFTER YOU INSTALL 1. The Import Wizard appears when you start Flock. Click Cancel. We recommend that you not import settings from other browsers (importing of favorites won't work, in any event, that's a known bug - we'll fix it soon) 2. After Flock comes up, we suggest that you click the Star button that's in the URL bar. You'll be asked if you'd like to share yourFavorites. Give it a spin, but keep in mind that all your favorites will be publicly viewable. -- If you have a del.icio.us account, enter your username and password. Click the checkbox that tells the Password Manager to remember. Then click OK. -- If you'd like to get a del.icio.us account, head over to http://del.icio.us/register That's it -- you're ready to go! After playing with this build for a while, please let us know what you think by filling out the survey or feedback form that are linked from the start page. For release notes, help and support, and more information on anything else that's Flock, check out the browser's start page. Thank you, Lloyd, on behalf of the Flock crew PS: Have you backed up your blog and del.icio.us lately? --- (I figured some of the monkeys would want to be bleeding edge.)

posted by mecurious 19 years ago
  • MORE INSIDE!!!!! /spittle
  • Meet the Flockers.
  • I got my notice about this and downloaded it last night. Haven't used any of the blogging tools yet, just did some light surfing and watched one streaming video. Works pretty well so far.
  • Me too, mct. No big issues on OS X so far. I'm not thrilled with the fact that the search field uses Yahoo Search instead of Google. I think there are other issues with that Search feature too (arrow keys don't move cursor inside it, for one thing). It also encloses everything you type (into the search field) in quotation marks.
  • It won't let me add a blog! Faugh!
  • You can reset the search field to Google. Just click the teeny down-arrow right next to the logo. It's just like FF's search field.
  • ah! thx
  • TOP: PID COMMAND %CPU TIME #TH #PRTS #MREGS RPRVT RSHRD RSIZE VSIZE 11301 Notes 0.7% 2:04.35 10 210 343 40.4M 45.7M 65.9M 279M 11299 iTunes 0.7% 0:17.36 4 225 298 16.4M 26.5M 28.0M 202M 11203 flock-bin 23.8% 38:45.49 9 236 1417 149M- 67.0M 192M 428M
  • Meet the Flockers. You've just been waiting for the opportunity to use that one, haven't you wendell? : )
  • Wow. How does that compare to FF? I'm not at my PC, so I can't check mahself.
  • NEEEEERRRRRRRRDS! *drives away*
  • Weird. First email I read today: a friend sending the link to download this. A couple other 'news' sites I visit: there it is, a post about it. A private blog I frequent: there's the resident hacker, talking about it. Viral much?
  • I don't miss it. So I won't bother with it.
  • This may be helpful: flock-under-those-feathers
  • Flock has angered me. It was bad enough when the website wouldn't tell you what it did, but then there was this very Crying Game like "oooh, we can't tell you, you just have to see" attitude combined with a ton of hype. Excuse me? You can give a presentation at a conference to generate publicity but can't PUT YOUR NOTES ONLINE?!? On the one hand you couldn't get away from the hype, and on the other nobody would say what it DID. Very very irritating. So, I repudiate Flock. Speak not to me of this thing.
  • OK, cali, you're de-Flocked.
  • I am well and truly sick of social software. I have email, and a browser, and an IM client, and a blog, and that's ENOUGH, thank you. I think I finally capped out last week, when someone showed me Ning. Ning is the hot new thing! It's flexible! And downloadable! "But what IS it?" One might reasonably ask. According to its website, it is "A free online service (or, as we like to call it, a Playground) for building and using social applications." Like a server? No, not like a server. Because you download it. A programming language, like PHP? Maybe a PHP/MySQL... I don't know... development kit? Can't be, it has a sidebar. So it's obviously an application of some sort. That you use to develop social networks. On their server. But... I... what?! I have no freakin' idea. The most plausible explanation I've come up with so far is that it's a prank.
  • Ning is good. Ning is Web 2.0. Behold, the future in all its glory! Argh! This stupid flockin' thing still won't let me add a blog!!! Doesn't it realize I have quizfarm results I wanna post?!?
  • Can you view Fark on Flock?
  • any of you web 2.0 doubters should check out netvibes. any of you sick of social software should get rid of your computer right now. we ain't seen nothin' yet. (I don't really understand Ning either, by the way)
  • Remember, waaaay back in the 20th century, when web portals and personalized homepages were going to be "it"?
  • Social software, hmmmm? Sounds like something you could get a "social" disease from if you're not careful.
  • Flock you very much.
  • Remember, waaaay back in the 20th century, when web portals and personalized homepages were going to be "it"? "It"? Thankfully, that never came to pass. Mhh, wait... well, sometimes they help.