Social Web browser Flock bases its 2.0 beta on Firefox 3

Even though the official release of Mozilla Firefox 3.0 was stealing all of the headlines, social Web browser Flock was quietly preparing the rollout of its first beta of version 2.0.

Everyone who remembers the premiere of the last Star Trek movie knows what happens when you schedule your big gala just in-between Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings. But Flock isn't really a competitor to Firefox, so its latest beta release on Sunday was not an effort on Flock's part to steal usage share.

Firefox users who test Flock will notice immediate similarities between the two browsers, especially the setup of toolbars and layout. There's an obvious reason: Flock is based on Firefox architecture, and Flock 2 is based on Firefox 3 -- thus the beta's release last Sunday.

"Flock 2 is FAST. Manages memory better, and is more secure, thanks to Mozilla's Firefox 3 technology," reads a blog post Monday morning from Flock.com Vice President Dan Burkhart.

Along with the crucial security improvements in Firefox 3, the Flock 2.0 beta also offers faster page rendering, reduced memory footprint, and a new download manager featuring a resume download button. A new list of icons offers users the ability to access Flickr, YouTube, Facebook, TypePad, Gmail, Blogger, and other popular Web sites and Web-based applications directly in the browser's sidebar.

Designed as a social Web browser, users can view Flickr images without visiting the Flickr Web site directly. Furthermore, the addition of a media bar across the top of the browser with the navigation toolbar makes it possible to view images through Flickr or watch videos using YouTube. The Flock 2.0 beta makes it possible for a user to save Flickr photo streams the same way she would bookmark a web site, which is easier than Flock 1.

Flock also makes it possible for users to see their friends' activities within a particular social networking site inside of a People sidebar. An "action" button there lets users easily send a message or nudge someone.

The Flock press release indicates Google's Gmail and Zoho Office running "twice as fast" when compared to Flock 1, but we did not notice any speed differences.

Flock engineers are working to make certain that popular add-ons from Firefox work with Flock, and in earlier BetaNews tests, we've never had a problem running as many as ten Firefox add-ons in Flock 1.

Flock 2.0 Beta is now available for Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux.