Goodbye Flock, hello Firefox

The below screenshot is what you see when you try to go to Google.com with Flock:

When I go to a web site, and software tries to hijack my session to go to a different web site, that’s bad software. It doesn’t matter how well-intentioned the offer is – if the software has the gumption to change my destination, that’s bad software. Bad software, bad. Go to the corner.

I first noticed this in the recent Flock builds, and I thought whoa, this can’t be right. This has to be somebody’s idea of a funny experiment. I mentioned it in the Flock mailing lists when they asked for the community’s top ten concerns, and I didn’t get an official response. I figured okay, maybe they’ll get rid of that in some coming builds. So I just downloaded a tinderbox build, gave it a shot, and it’s still there.

That means they know, and they’re okay with it.

I’m not.

So, here’s the next page I went to:

And just like that, my Flock experience is over. I’ll miss it. I had a personal tie to it – heck, my name was even in the credits for a while – but I just will not stand for software that tries, even just once, to subvert my browsing habits from one provider to another. Not gonna do it. Wouldn’t be prudent.

Now, to find the best del.icio.us plugin…

Brent Ozar

Brent specializes in performance tuning for SQL Server, VMware, and storage. He's one of the very few Microsoft Certified Masters of SQL Server, a published author, and a Microsoft MVP. He likes travel, Jeeps, Apple gear, jokes, and writing about himself in the third person. Read more and contact Brent.

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