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Flock (web browser)

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Flock
Developer(s)Flock, Inc.
Initial releaseApril 11, 2005 (2005-04-11)[1]
Preview releasenone (n/a) [±]
Written inC++, XUL, XBL, JavaScript
Operating systemWindows, Mac OS X (Intel), Linux, FreeBSD
Available inCatalan, Chinese (both Traditional and Simplified), English (US, Australian, British, Canadian), Finnish, French, German, Hungarian, Japanese, Italian, Polish, Portuguese (Portugal + African Portuguese Speaking Countries and Brazil), Russian, Slovak, Spanish (Latin American and Spain)
TypeWeb browser
LicenseProprietary Software and GPL, some components also LGPL+MPL
WebsiteFlock.com
Flock Beta Site

Flock is a web browser that specializes in providing social networking and Web 2.0 facilities built into its user interface.[2] Earlier versions of Flock used the Gecko HTML rendering engine by Mozilla. Version 2.6.1, released in July 2010, was the last version based on Mozilla.[3][4] Starting with version 3, Flock is based on Chromium and so uses the WebKit rendering engine.[5][6] Flock is available as a free download, and supports Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, Linux and FreeBSD platforms.

History

Flock is the successor to Round Two who raised money from Bessemer Venture Partners, Catamount Ventures, Shasta Ventures, and other angel investors. Bart Decrem and Geoffrey Arone cofounded the company.[7] Flock raised $15 million in a fourth round of funding led by Fidelity Ventures on May 22, 2008.[citation needed] The company's previous investors, Bessemer Venture Partners, Catamount Ventures, and Shasta Ventures, also participated in the round. "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," according to its press release.[8]

Flock was one of the 12 browsers offered to European Economic Area users of Microsoft Windows in 2010.[9]

In January 2011, Flock Inc. was acquired by Zynga.[10] The future of the browser is unknown.

Features

Flock 2.5 integrates social networking and media services including MySpace,[11] Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Flickr, Blogger, Gmail, Yahoo! Mail, etc.[12] Notably, when logging into any of the supported social services, Flock can track updates from friends: profiles, uploaded photos, and more. Flock's latest 2.5 version added Twitter Search functionality, multi-casting of status updates to multiple services, and the introduction of instant messaging via Facebook Chat in the browser.

Other features include:

Reception

In December 2007, Flock won the Mashable Open Web Awards for Applications and Widgets[22] and in March 2008, Flock won the South By Southwest[23] Web Award for Community.[24]

CNET gave the Mac OS X version of Flock 1.0 the title of "Best Mac Software of 2007."[25] PC World's Harry McCracken reviewed Flock as his "New Favorite Web Browser.".[26]

In February 2008, AOL announced that it would discontinue support for the Netscape browser, and recommended Flock and Firefox as alternative browsers to its userbase of Netscape 9 users.[27] For the Netscape 8 userbase, AOL recommended only the Flock browser to its users.[28] In March 2008, Flock announced that they had seen "nearly 3 million downloads" and a 135% percent increase in active users in the first two months of 2008. They also announced "more than 70 percent of Flock users making it their default browser of choice."[29]

In May 2008, Flock won the Social Networking category of the Webby Awards.[30][31] Flock was nominated for this award along with Facebook, Bebo and Ning.

Awards

Upon exiting beta Flock has won a number of awards:[19]

  • "Eddy Winner": Flock 2.0 24th Annual Macworld Editors' Choice Awards [32]

See also

References

  1. ^ Festa, Paul (2005-04-11). "Start-up wants to improve on Firefox". CNET. Retrieved 2010-08-02.
  2. ^ Flock Browser - Built on Mozilla's Firefox
  3. ^ "Flock 2.6.1 Release Notes". Flock. Retrieved December 9, 2010.
  4. ^ "Powered by Mozilla". Flock. Retrieved December 9, 2010.
  5. ^ Iedtke, Michael (June 16, 2010). "Flock Browser Gets Faster, Friendlier With Upgrade". ABC. Retrieved June 17, 2010.
  6. ^ a b c Wayner, Peter (19 October 2010). "Top 10 specialty Web browsers you may have missed". InfoWorld. p. 2. Retrieved 28 October 2010.
  7. ^ Flock Browser - Company Info
  8. ^ "Flock draws $15 million for social browsing". CNET. Retrieved 2008-05-23.
  9. ^ BBC, Microsoft offers browser choices to Europeans, 1 March 2010
  10. ^ Wasserman, Todd. "Todd Wasserman 27 minutes ago Todd Wasserman 0 Zynga Buys "Social Web Browser" Flock". Mashable. Retrieved 7 January 2011.
  11. ^ a b Official release announcement on Shawn Harding's blog
  12. ^ "Activate Services and Unite Your Social Networks in the People Sidebar". User guides. Flock. Retrieved 2008-10-22.
  13. ^ "Share Pictures, Text, Audio and Video". User guides. Flock. Retrieved 2008-10-22.
  14. ^ "View and Share Media through the Media Bar". User guides. Flock. Retrieved 2008-10-22.
  15. ^ "Track Feeds". User guides. Flock. Retrieved 2008-10-22.
  16. ^ "Activate and Manage Blogs". User guides. Flock. Retrieved 2008-10-22.
  17. ^ "Review: Strong, innovative Web browsers emerge". The Associated Press. Retrieved 2008-06-26.
  18. ^ "Get or Build Add-ons for Flock". User guides. Flock. Retrieved 2008-10-22.
  19. ^ a b c d "Flock's press".
  20. ^ a b c "Flock Named As One of PC World's "100 Best Products of 2008"". Retrieved 2008-06-17.
  21. ^ "The 100 Best Products of 2008". PC World. Retrieved 2008-06-17.
  22. ^ Open Web Awards Winners
  23. ^ Web Awards
  24. ^ Oh wait! SXSWi had Web Awards, too
  25. ^ Best Mac Software of 2007
  26. ^ I Have A New Favorite Web Browser: Flock
  27. ^ Netscape 9 Users: Time to Flock or Firefox
  28. ^ Netscape 8 Update Forthcoming: You Can Flock Too!
  29. ^ Flock Browser Use Growing Dramatically
  30. ^ 2008 Webby Award Winners
  31. ^ Flock Wins a Webby Award for Best in Social Networking
  32. ^ Eddy Winner: Flock 2.0

External Links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Flock_(web_browser)&oldid=417972074"