Using Flock on Mac OS X

Submitted by dirk on Tue, 2007-02-06 13:33

So even though I'm an avid fan of the Mac operating system, I try to use open source tools as much as possible (since part of my job is advocating that NGO's around the world use open source).  I've successfully weened myself off of Microsoft Office and now solely use Open Office (which I really do like by the way).  

I've tried to switch my web-browser several times.  Firefox is probably the best damn web-browser on the planet and it seems ridiculous that I use the Mac's Safari browser over it all the time, especially since Safari often runs into problems with certain scripts on web-pages.  The issue though comes down to performance.  Firefox running on my little Chicklet (my 12" power mac G4) brings the whole system to its knees.  I can't listen to iTunes at the same time without massive pauses - its extremely irritating!  Also the rainbow pinwheel will appear constantly and pause me in the midst of whatever typing I'm doing.  So I last maybe 2 hours in Firefox and then switch back to Safari.

At Asia Source II (a camp on using open source in civil society organizations), I was introduced to Flock, a Firefox derivative, by c5.  Flock is a really sweet browser!  It incorporates RSS feeds and other Web 2.0 functionality really nicely.  I'm currently using its blog tool to enter this post, which will allow me to write and save blog posts while I'm offline and then easily publish them when I get online.  It also handles a variety of Firefox extensions to increase its functionality.  So I'm totally in love with this browser!

The only problem is that I have the same performance issues that I had with Firefox.  It constantly brings my system to a standstill.  Because of its increased functionality, I am using it more than Firefox, but I find myself getting frustrated and switching back to Safari. 

I'm wondering if I'm going to have to wait til I can get an Intel-based Mac to experience the full blown glory of a great open source web-browser like Flock.  In the meantime I'm muddling through using two browsers!

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