Andreesen Offers New Browser 'Rockmelt'

DrHeasley writes "Rockmelt, available for the first time Monday, is built on the premise that most online activity today revolves around socializing on Facebook, searching on Google, tweeting on Twitter and monitoring a handful of favorite websites. It tries to minimize the need to roam from one website to the next by corralling all vital information and favorite services in panes and drop-down windows. 'This is a chance for us to build a browser all over again,' Andreessen said. 'These are all things we would have done (at Netscape) if we had known how people were going to use the Web.'"

Comments

RockMelt only works if you have a Facebook account

[an00bis]

Welp, count me out.

We've seen this before

[Papeh]

He's got the same attitude as the Windows guys. He doesn't get that the browser / OS has a main goal of getting out of the way and letting you work.

Re:We've seen this before

[Abcd1234]

He's got the same attitude as the Windows guys. He doesn't get that the browser / OS has a main goal of getting out of the way and letting you work.

And thus you demonstrate that you have no clue how most people spend their time on the internet, and that you are clearly not the target market for this software.

That's fine. But, as is so common with Slashdotters, you presume that the tiny minority you are a part of somehow represents the majority of humanity. It's cute, but fantastically naive.

Re:$10 says this fails miserably

[Deep Esophagus]

I won't take that bet. He has a point that the Huddled Masses use their browsers -- nay, the entirety of teh intrawebz -- for those limited purposes, but the set of people who use their browsers in such a limited capacity intersected with the set of users who would have the motivation and technical awareness to seek out and install a new browser and start using that by default is small to nonexistent.

so, basically...

[Dzimas]

This is a browser for people like my mom. Perhaps that'll work, although most people fight back hard when they perceive they're using a dumbed-down tool. We want all the bells and whistles, whether or not we actually need them or know how to use them. Microsoft's latest iterations of Word and Excel demonstrate this admirably.

Re:Flock

[NotQuiteReal]

Q: Why create another browser for no one to use?
A: $10 million in funding

Re:$10 says this fails miserably

[Jeremiah Cornelius]

How can this fail, when it is the equivalent of nailing a "Nielsen Box" to the user's forehead?

Hey! Why browse spy sites? You can deeply integrate surveillance and intrusive tracking experiences in your browser itself!

Never have that "I'm all alone" feeling, ever again.