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So, what exactly changed to warrant such negativity? Well, first off, Digsby opted to move from the roughly 15mb download from their own site to an Internet-based installer If you’re not exactly sure what I’m referring to, think about the Windows Live installer – download one installer weighing in at less than 5mb and that installer then pulls updated content from the Web for the rest of the installation process. In general, I tend to loathe these types of installers and the InstallQ-based Digsby installer is as annoying as they come and certainly isn’t going to change my opinion on these types of installers.

Secondly, the new installation process presents the end-user with a handful of advertisements and installation offers. This is where the bulk of the complaints came from and, in my opinion, ninety-nine percent of those complaining just don’t have any logical ground on which to stand. Before I continue, let’s take a look at a series of screenshots detailing the installation process:

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to determine what exactly people are complaining about. Since their launch earlier this year, Digsby has yet to reveal itself as a company that’s just doing what everybody else is (the software is extremely polished to be as young as it is and their dedication to updates and user requests is refreshing) and I think it’s safe to say that they’re not doing anything different when it comes to this installer. By that, I mean that I don’t know that I’ve ever seen quite so many ads for one installation package before… and I’ve downloaded and installed what must be thousands of different applications since I began my voyage on the InterWebs in 1994.

So, why the change? Why integrate advertisements into the installer? Well, why would any company do that to the software they offer to the public-at-large for no cost? <cough> $$$ </ahem>

As the founder of Digsby, Steve Shapiro, states within the comments to one of the company’s blog postings:

We’re testing this installer with a portion of downloads and the offers are 100% optional. At the end of the day, we need to generate revenue to keep the lights on and keep making Digsby better. We’d rather show you ads once during the installation process than plaster Digsby with banner ads like other IM clients do (ie: AIM, MSN, Yahoo, and ICQ).

I have a couple of complaints about the whole process overall, one of which I’ve already detailed, but I’m certainly not seeing how this new installer will result in the end of the world. Take a closer look at those screenshots if you haven’t already done so. For each offer, you have two abundantly-clear options: "Accept" and "Decline." If you don’t want to install WeatherBug (and, honest to God, Steve… who would?), click "Decline." It’s as simple as that.

In addition, the area over to the left of the installer even provides you with a running tally of what exactly will be installed when everything is said and done. Plus, as it states in the terms, everything can be easily uninstalled using your OS’ control panel.

Overall, the software is brilliantly simplistic and I can’t even begin to tell you how much time it’s saved me. To have all of my IM accounts, all of my email accounts and my frequently-used social networking accounts in one place has proven to be invaluable. That said, I don’t have an issue with seeing ads one single, solitary time. (Yes, once – Digsby automatically checks for updates and, if there are any, subsequently processes them when you launch the application every day. That continued process, my friends, is ad-free.)

That aforementioned second complaint of mine, you ask? Well, as somebody astutely pointed out within the comments to that Download Squad article, the process could get sticky for the friends and relatives (oh, won’t someone please think of the elderly!?) to whom we’ve all recommended Digsby. I’m not exactly sure how the company could improve upon the level of clarity in regards to ensuring people don’t get stuck with software they don’t want but I do think it needs to be ever-so-slightly simplified. Again, I’m not exactly sure how but I do think it’s necessary. (Note to Steve: compile a survey, put out a poll, have your users test a few different installers… whatever. Just make sure you’re taking advantage of the knowledge and experience of those willing to share it. I.E., the community of Digsbies. You can start with me.)

Let me first start by saying that I have a bit of a soft spot for the Flock browser. You see, three years ago, before Automattic opened up WordPress.com for public use, it was in a private beta phase and invites were difficult to come by. Upon the arrival of one of the company’s first betas, Flock decided to issue invitations to WordPress.com to accompany the download of the Flock web browser. It was on that day, October 31st, 2005, that the Fans of Tech weblog was born. Using Flock’s embedded blog authoring tool and my new WordPress account, I began what would ultimately become not only an obsession, but also my favorite hobby: informing readers about the development of new technologies that can actually make all areas of their lives just a little bit easier.

That said, I thought it might be fitting to celebrate our 3rd year with some news about the recently-released Flock 2.0.

Exiting beta just a couple of weeks ago, the final release of Flock 2.0 brings a few new features to the Firefox-based browser. First up is support for one of the oldest social networking sites out there, MySpace.

"Now MySpace lovers can stay up to date with their MySpace friends and activities no matter where they are on the web. MySpace users will also find that Flock offers the easiest way to upload photos, insert photos and videos in MySpace comment fields and share most any web content by simply dragging and dropping it into the Flock People sidebar."

The new release also brings support for themes to Flock for the first time. There are two brand-new themes now available to Flock users: Dublin and MyBlue. I personally wasn’t terribly impressed with either of them (I definitely prefer the original better) but, honestly, that goes for a lot of Firefox-based themes I encounter as well.

Now, those two new features are just the tip of the iceberg for the final 2.0 release. Among the many new features introduced in the first Flock 2.0 beta, released back in June, include an improved codebase built upon Firefox 3 – which was unveiled this past spring – as well as support for Media RSS (MRSS) detection.

Flock 2.0 brings plenty of user-reported fixes including a fix for what was once a big problem for many Flock users, including yours truly: memory leaks. Thanks to the new Firefox 3.0 code, Flock now consumes far-less memory per session even despite a large number of open tabs and windows.

This is all in addition to what Flock already offered: a media mini-bar to quickly preview online photos and videos, built-in Webmail viewing for your favorite online email accounts, a built-in blog editor compatible with all of the most popular blogging services, a superbly-powerful search bar for find-as-you-type results from search engines/browsing history/favorites as well as support for pretty much any Firefox add-on that you can find.

Now, many of you may not recall this but Flock actually began as a company by the name of RoundTwo which was built to support the development of Firefox extensions like FlashGot, TinyURL Creator, Copy Plain Text and more – extensions that may not be around today without the support of the company that would eventually craft the world’s most popular socially-aware Web browser.

If you’re not yet using Flock and you want to know a little bit more about it and how it can pretty easily change your social networking experience, their official site, at flock.com, is (in my humble opinion) uniquely easy-to-browse and provides all of the information you need. Read over what all the browser has to offer and there’s a pretty good chance you’ll find yourself downloading it… or one of it’s many incarnations.

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Editor’s Note: Both Flock and WordPress are definitely the best in their class and I not only think it’s great to see that these products/offerings are still available three years later but I’m also proud to have based the first-ever post on Fans of Tech on them. I’m looking forward to three more years of posts on these products and a plethora of others as well.

Related Articles:
- Use Flock 2.0 to Import Delicious Bookmarks Tags Into Firefox 3.0
- Manage Your Multiple Social Personalities with Flock Profiles