Exploring Flock Before It Bids Farewell

Flock, known as the social web browser, will be closing its doors to the World Wide Web on April 26. Flock was acquired by Zynga last January 2011. I haven't really used Flock before so I'm curious on how it functions. I installed Flock for this purpose only because I wouldn't have the opportunity to do this in the future.

First release: April 11, 2005
License: Propriety and GPL
Written in: C++, XUL, XBL, JavaScript
Developers: Flock, Inc.

I downloaded and installed Flock on April 19th and explored some of its notable features.

Installing Flock.

The Interface:

Click to enlarge: Adding my social accounts.

Click to enlarge: Preview of the sidebar containing the feeds.

However, I tried logging in again on April 23rd and this helloed me:

So, I was disappointed that it was 3 days early than the said date. :/

However, I found out via their Get Satisfaction page that this has been a regular happening since four months ago, (January, I suppose).

Here's a comment that caught my attention:

This made me remember one of my favorite games, MyMiniLife, which I have been playing for years, then bought by Zynga and shut down. :p If you've never heard of that game, it's a flash game where you can build homes and showcase them on your profile. I remembered how I spent days designing a MiniHome and how I spent full attention to every detail on every item I include on the house. Then in an instant, it was bought by Zynga.

Boom. Bazinga!

According to them, Flock will still be available for browsing the web. However, it wouldn't be updated and support will no longer be there and it may not be secure in the future. (You know, any programs need to be updated in order to adapt to this digital world full of danger.) And, the sync of social accounts will no longer be available.

To know more about what happened, creep through their FAQ page.

How about you, have you used Flock before? What features do you like and dislike most? Feel free to share it with us.

Visit http://flock.com for more info.