Flock CEO Slips Away

[drhayden1]

The CEO of Flock, the hyped social browser that some say didn't really live up to its hype, has just left the company Wednesday to build another company. The move by Bart Decrem is being treated like it was a planed move. Bessemer Venture Partners has stated that this development has been anticipated since the day the company was started. Flock launched at the beginning of August, with a ton of hype, but most users seemed to be unsatisfied with the social browser, and didn't shake up the browser world as was intended. It should be interesting to watch how this shakes up the company. This could be a move that get a bunch of extra PR, and expand the user base
its appeal was limited to geeks, most of whom were doing just fine with Firefox and a few extensions to integrate Flickr and blog posting. However, that changed when the Flock/Photobucket browser emerged - considering Photobucket’s popularity with MySpace users, it seemed that the move might take Flock mainstream. Decrem’s departure suggests that hasn’t happened, and Flock looks to be in real trouble.

guess i'm a geek(NOT!)since i liked the browser

[..::ReVaN::..]

guess i'm a geek(NOT!)since i liked the browser

Liked? You make it sound like Flock doesn't exist anymore ... Or did you mean you don't like it anymore?
A suggestion for you, you might want to write down the source of the article and/or put the article text in italics(or in quote tags) so people know you are quoting an article
BTW this article sux ... It's totally guessing all the way.

[polonus]

Hi drhayden1 & M2,

What about the $ 3.2 million from venture capitalists and angel investors?
Bart Decrem is just a restless Belgian who has many fingers in many cooking pots.
But there are other people that can take a browser further, like Baron, Ted Mielczarek. Flock had some things going for it as the new "kid on the block":

"The Flock team had the right goal in mind: take a browser which had a huge amount of fans and make it better. Though the browser currently lags in speed when compared to Firefox, it leaves Firefox in the dust in features. Features such as a blog editor, a panic button to quickly clear data, and the ability to handle RSS feeds should have a good amount of Firefox fans thinking twice about their beloved Fox. For now however, users should stick with their current browser due to the fact that the current Flock build is a developer build, intended for testing only. But, in due time, make sure you IE and Firefox fans give the “Flocker” a shot."

Well, that did not materialize as quick as they thought. What could save Flock a place next to similar browsers? Two things: stability, and a secure extension policy. In these respects Flock has not landed, and Decrem flew away. Who is going to be Flock's new "Runenmeister"?

polonus

[dk70]

I forgot url but the guy did not leave and is still associated with Flock project, chairman or something. Actually from the Flock responses I read it seemed like they are expanding and he might not want to same position due to that - or is not the right person. Check Flock site/forum...

Perhaps it will die out but these funeral stories are just typical for this part of internet - you know, projects, web 2.0, success or failure, what get financed or not.

[drhayden1]

hey M2....i like the browser(and still use it) as well as polonus i know does and the design of it - i forgot to post the link
http://mashable.com/2006/09/13/flock-ceo-jumps-ship/

[polonus]

Hi folks,

As long as Flock feels better as FF, I am going to adhere to it.
It has nothing o do with browsers, hype or what, just how it behaves,

polonus

[dk70]

If some dont know it here is a good screencast http://www.screencastsonline.com/sco/Shows/files/6bab7806ed46d123ba0175a8a90fcff3-82.html - 30min in 960 x 540 I only have 2 problems with Flock, 1. It has not made use of FF 2.0 code yet (it will) and 2. I dont have the need for it!

Im more worried about is what their goal is regarding $$$. They have aired the thought of paid versions/subscriptions or something. This is a project like many others, trying/testing but perhaps with a business model in mind. I think also why Flock is not exactly loved by Mozilla freaks. Perhaps that shine through when another dude left some months ago, http://weblogs.mozillazine.org/asa/archives/2006/03/chris_messina_l.html More or less same fuss. I think many of these developer talents jump around, following money, personal ambitions or whatever. Nothing to cry or wonder about, unless of course a certain figure has been holding project above water. There must be some money circulating in this area, see http://techcrunch.com , and developers also only live once. Swimming in offers must be cool  Btw, didnt some Avast guy say it would not be so bad to be eaten by a bigger company? More like an appreciation, I think so... Internet = movement. 

[polonus]

Hi dk70,

I don't know where is the turning point for Flock. Apart from whether you need this type of browser or not, some like the other side of the spectrum, and go for Opera (searchers, librarians etc.). If there comes the real live version, and they can rollercoast on something that is big or even better to invent it themselves for those now with MyTube etc, or Yahoo is buying it (their search engine by default), they could get it off if they can get that type of followers behind it.
But you can wait for the momentum that may not arrive. A poor 3.1 billion thrown over the hedge.  You raelly need some young coders (at heart) that can "turn their ears to the wind". Maybe they can surprise us comin' October. A new legal way of swapping files, that does not run on legal rocks, ways uninvented or never tried, making something unique and new every time, and making it very personal and private as well (on code level), for instance swapping profile content which are free and others may find interesting to know about (selling them the profile preferences). to make it work you need a file encrypting layer, also to make it more secure. Well I am just letting steam off, but you can imagine according to what lines innovation works.

The only reason I surf with Flock is that it does not crash on me like FF use to do or did. Now FF is just to throw the old crap code from their early days out gradually, but lean is not always mean.

polonus

[..::ReVaN::..]

Did you guys read the comments on this article?

This is a comment from the author of the article after some guy told him he was too harsh on Flock:

Hey Omar,

Yeah, this is one of those hasty posts that I just flung out there - may update it later. I do think Flock has some merit, and I think it’s easy to overreact to these announcements - many of the startups that seemed to be struggling have bounced back. My concern with Flock is that people outside the Valley just don’t see the benefit - I’m also not a big fan of hyped-up launches, and maybe that makes me biased against them. What’s more, getting most people to download software (particularly the Photobucket/MySpace gen) seems like a challenge. But I certainly think they’re right to broaden their appeal beyond flickr and del.icio.us users, and I hope the PB integration works out.

Oh, and the graphics on Flock are indeed sweet.

A hasty post that he just flung out there ...



A comment by one of Flock founders:

Hey, this is Geoffrey, the other founder of Flock chiming in. First of all, I want to say thanks to the Flock fans on this thread. Also, the board asked Bart to transition to the role of Chairman so that we could grow the company to its next phase with a CEO more experienced in doing so. The truth is that Flock has raised more than the amount quoted in the original article. In fact, we have sufficient money in the bank to run the company for at least two years and DO have a search deal in place. So, if you are a fan of Flock’s, stay tuned, there some exciting times ahead!

[szc]

Where is the final realease ? Is it ever going to be released ? Too bad it takes so long. It is one good browser indeed.

[..::ReVaN::..]

Hi Sasha!

If you go here and read the comments you'll find this post:

Hey Justin, sorry to hear you’re experience hasn’t been 100% awesome so far.

Fortunately, things are going to improve on the performance front. There are several known bugs causing memory leak issues and we're going to work on those. Also, our developers have modified their practices for writing code so that they spot issues sooner.

Our 1.0 release scheduled for this fall will be built on Firefox 2.0 which has better performance overall. Hopefully with that and the other two things I mentioned you'll enjoy better performance with Flock.

In the meantime, to help us understand what was causing poor performance for you lately, do you mind answering the questions from the performance support page by way of posting a thread in the support forums?

Community Ambassador, Flock


Cheers,


Mikey

[polonus]

Hi M2,

You know what they are doing here. You know, that they are hyping things up for something they want to cash in on. They already have the hedge funders'money and the angel investments, now they wanna see some action, or they have to roam on, cannot sit on their b*tts. But most browsers are at a par now, there is not much room to twiggle, they need a hype or two or a rumour of one. The browser is not bad, no way, my friend, I am not saying that, on the contrary, but these kiddo's are Web 2.0 generation, it is all bubble and foam, and living on a balloon surface  that is half empty, and that we call "global village" now. See through it, Mikey, for what it is worth, man.

polonus

[neal62]

Well, I still have my version of Flock. I guess what it boils down to in the long run is...."Time will tell" as to what course Flock will take. I will still continue to use it though as I really haven't had any problems with it.