Hey does anyone remember what the heck Parakey was and it's fate? Yeah, that is right, Facebook bought em before they even officially launched. Now it seems that they MAY be about to create a browser of exclusivity, a Facebook only browser. According to the Download Squad article, the rumors are;
The browser dubbed RockMelt, which is still very much in the design phase, is supposedly being worked on by all-stars in the development world like Facebook for iPhone developer Joe Hewitt, Firefox creator Blake Ross among others. The project is being headed up by the engineer behind Netscape Navigator, Robert John Churchill.
FYI, Blake Ross was the one behind Parakey. It seems that all of this is going on pretty much in the shadows of all the Google-Yahoo-Microsoft talk. I rather have to agree with the John Burke and it seems to be something from the department of redundancy department. I also find it rather ironic that it is rumored to be headed by the engineer of an alternative browser.
It makes absolutely no sense for them to release browser, or does it? Granted Flock seems to be more like flop, a social browser that is geared for a massive social network may not be such a bad idea. I am one of many people who uses the Facebook Toolbar for Firefox. I like having that type of integration. I like it enough where I would try a FaceBook browser tweaked for that... that is as long as it were not ONLY for FaceBook. If it could be aware of your preferences based on your profile, it could suggest sites, people you might know, and products you might like... hmmm.
Also go back to Parakey for a second, it was intended to be a nice all integrating solution for managing all your stuff all scattered about the web. An integration that was supposed to be so easy your grandma could use it. If they can get that into a browser, they have something on top of what they already have. What they already have is a huge group of users who will likely, either out of desire or curiosity, at least try it. Four years ago, only nutcases were talking about a browser from Google. After all they are only a search engine company, right?
Google is no longer a search engine company and, likely never was. They are an advertising and marketing mega-giga-monster. To Make more money from advertising, they have indexed the entire web with our search queries. We find what we want, and advertisers find the targets they want. Privacy issues aside, it is a symbiotic thing. Keep in mind that aphids herded by ants is also considered symbiotic.
Microsoft is no longer a software company. They haven't been for a really, really long time. Microsoft knew this way back in the browser war days. The browser is not the important part. It is the knowledge of what the people browse and what they can be sold.
If above is incorrect, then why all the talk of MicroYaSoftHoo being formed so that M$ could compete with Google? FaceBook is a social network site with 200 million users. As far as what a browser may do for them, I don't know. But if History repeats itself, FaceBook is already more than just a social network site.
Now, I am not going to say that I expect to be surfing with "Rockmelt", for it doesn't make any sense for a social network site to release a browser. Then again, I can remember about three years ago when a very intelligent and respected tech-guru had a somewhat snarky outlook on the thought of an OS from Google. I also know people who said for years that they would never sell their GM, AT&T, Compu-Serve or AOL stock because "they are so big they will always recover". Now most of em, unfortunately, are wishing they dumped it when they could have.
All I am going to say is that I would not be surprised by much of anything on web these days. The only thing that is constant is change and the only thing guaranteed to perpetually increase is the rate of it. Seriously, how many of us ever expected to see another Commodore Computer? Heck, maybe we can get one with CompuServe on it. (It will come with some Commodore games.)
