Thanks to the good folks at Silicon Beat, I was able to download Flock, the much-anticipated browser that is supposed to change the world and, in the process, send Firefox, Opera and IE into oblivion - at least that's what all the hype leads you to believe. As far as first impressions go, it's hard to get a handle on it because it so work-in-progress. There are some interesting features such as the ability to blog by using an in-browser editor (although only a few platforms are supported now). I also like the history page with a built in search engine; and something called The Shelf where you can put all interesting Web site content for future reference. Other than that, it's your run-of-the-mill browser that promises to add more cool features in the future. As a Firefox user, I suspect many of Flock's features will be adopted soon so I'm really not tempted to switch allegiances. And to be honest, I don't know what all the fuss is about, why people like Tech Beat's Michael Arrington and Robert Scoble are so stoked, and why Flock was able to raise $2-million. There are dozens of alternative browsers in the market, and Flock looks like just another contender to join the list. Still, Flock co-founder and CEO Bart Decrem believes Flock will be used by 100 million people in five years. In time, he may be right or he may be just another entrepreneur with high hopes but I don't see Flock's appeal and I don't see how it can hope to outflank Firefox, Opera, IE or Netscape on features that can be easily replicated. In many ways, I think Flock sadly epitomizes the hype surrounding Web 2.0 where alphas/betas moving  into markets dominated by big players attract fawning media coverage from Wired and BusinessWeek. Hey, I'm all for the little guy but this whole build it (cool technology) and they (millions of users) will come thing is getting out of hand. These days, everyone points to Skype to demonstrate the power of disruptive technology and viral marketing but Skype is a total anomaly that has become online myth because eBay temporarily lost its mind. Maybe I'm wrong about Flock or over-cynical or lack vision about what it could be down the road, but I don't see how the buzz can be justified. The counter-argument is "well, look at Firefox". That may be true but I'll believe it when I see it. Finally, can anyone explain how Flock going to make money? This is one of the frustrating parts of Web 2.0 - everything is hell-bent on creating cool browsers and search engines and RSS readers and "to do" lists but few people can actually come up with a business plan to go along with these new R&D projects. It's like the dot-com era but worse.
Update: I checked out Flock CEO Bart Decrem's blog and he does talk about a business model, which is based on sponsorship and referral fees from partners such as Google. He points to a search referral deal that Opera has with Google, which let Opera give away its ad-free browser rather than charge $39. Of course, before Flock can generate revenue from these kind of deals, it has to attract millions of users. Maybe the beta it prematurely released into the wild earlier this week is a sign of things to come. The only thing Flock really achieved this week is lose much of its buzz and goodwill.