Maybe It's Time to Rethink the Browser

It looks like it's been built on top of Google Chrome, which probably means, because Chrome is licensed under a BSD license, it's now closed source, and they aren't going to bother with Linux, even though the original code base works fine on Linux.

My "executive summary":

Browsers are getting old (read "obsolete" -- must be, 'cause they've been around a relatively long time) and they need to be replaced with nice new simple apps, that bring in and co-ordinate all the functionality that is currently provided by "old" browsers.

[/executive summary]

Perhaps the point was just over my head?

I'm pretty sure I see articles address this kind of thing fairly often, in distro reviews and DE reviews. I'm not sure how popular they are, aside from cell-phone UIs perhaps. I don't get into these one-stop "social" tools that much, but it seems to me that in the Linux sphere, interoperability/ease of integration has long been a standard concern.

Quoting: And that's just what RockMelt, a browser that just received $30 million in funding from Andreessen-Horowitz is attempting to do...It's time to free the browser from the desktop and let it link to the cloud...

Why do they need $30 mil to do that? Heck, I can string together buzzwords like 'cloud' and 'free the browser' for half that.

Quoting: in the Linux sphere, interoperability/ease of integration has long been a standard concern.

No no Bernard, when stinky FOSS hippies say it, it's bad. This is Completely Different.

Quoting:What we need is a browser that operates like the best apps, that incorporates mobile and social elements in an integrated fashion, that lets us access our information wherever we go, and that gives developers the ability to take advantage of this functionality.

Hmmm. I thought that Flock was a web browser that specialized in social networking and "Web 2.0" tools in the browser. Wait, Flock died an untimely death. I guess it's because they didn't use the right buzzwords, like "cloud" and "mobile". They were stuck with "Web 2.0".

It is an article with a lot of buzz words and it is nearly devoid of usefull information. I can't shake the feeling this was just a big advert for RockMelt, but cleverly written to completely look unlike an advert.

If I make a summary with my tinfoil hat on, it reads something like this:

"Your browser is old and uncool and can't do nifty little things. Do you know RockMelt is new and makes you special?"

Plus, I bet that "your browser", whether it be Chrome or Firefox, can easily be plugin-ed/addon-ed to do anything Rockmelt does - probably better, and with more choice.