A few days ago I installed the Flock browser, version 1.0, on my notebook computer. I've been using it as my default browser for that time, and I have to say that I find it very slick and useful.
I'd used the early beta versions of Flock and I thought it was a good idea, but I wasn't able to use most of the features. The blog posting tool, for example, doesn't work with my hacked-together WikiBlog system. Also, a lot of my must-have Firefox extensions, like SearchStatus, wouldn't install on Flock.
But version 1.0 now installs all my Firefox extensions, and it also has lots of neat features that I find really useful. The feed reader, for example, is very slick, complete, and useful. The integration with social software sites like Facebook and Twitter is amazing, and the People View -- which tracks your friends on different systems -- is huge. The "My World" generated home page has replaced Netvibes for me. All good things.
I'm a little disappointed with the narrow range of sites that are integrated into the browser, though. It'd be great to see more and better documentation on writing integration plugins on the Flock Developer site. I'd love to work on ways to make it easier to post to MediaWiki sites, upload files, get notifications, etc. I think getting site owners to make their own Flock plug-ins, or making it easy for users or third parties to do the plug-ins themselves, is going to be key to the success of these features.
One other thing I found annoying was the indexer. This is a background task that indexes your browsing history so you can search for stuff you've recently seen ("Where did I read about that new version of JavaScript...?") Although this seems really useful, I found that the indexer was pegging the CPU on my Linux box -- possibly a threading problem? -- and I found the program increasingly unresponsive. Eventually I found the toggle in about:config to turn off the indexer ("flock.service.indexer.enabled"), and once I switched it off my browsing experience has been much less frustrating.
I'd like to see Flock succeed -- it's a nice piece of work, and I think it's going down the right path. Getting more contributions from the world Web community will go a long way towards making it more useful for users.
tags: flock flock1.0 browser opensource
Yo Gamma Gamma
Last night I dropped by the SAT for a great games event here in Montreal. Gamma 256 was a fun party, associated with the MIGS game summit. The event showcases submitted games based on a theme -- this year's theme was 256x256 pixel games (or smaller) -- thus the name.
There were a ton of Montreal tech people there. The games were fun to play, especially the insanely violent Bloody Zombies, where your chainsaw-wielding alter ego slaughters the undead and then swims in their blood to reach the next level. Great fun, and a good example of Gamma's concentration on art in games.
The music was good too -- lots of bleeps and boops and gamety fun. Congratulations to Heather Kelley and Damien DiFede and the rest of the Kokoromi Collective on their great job with this event. I'm already looking forward to next year.
tags: kokoromi gamma256 heatherkelley damiendifede
One-liners
Some more things going on with me:
- It snowed here in Montreal this week, and now it's sticking. Lots of hats, gloves, and heavy boots; we're officially in winter.
- On that note, I've posted my first house swapping ads on Craigslist this week. One's is for a Montreal-to-Gulf-Coast swap for February 2008, and the other is for a Montreal-to-Buenos-Aires swap for Winter 2008-9. I don't know if either one will work out, but I'm into the idea of spending a month or so away from home.
- SantaCon Montreal happens tomorrow -- see ARE YOU SANTA? for details. We're all geared up for it, but I still need to go get some more Kringly goods for the event.
- Late breaking news: Maj just finished her novel for NaNoWriMo. With 26 hours to spare! Congrats, baby! I'm proud of you.