Fizzik's social web browser enters public beta, but I kinda wish it hadn't

When you launch Fizzik, you see the screen above. I'm no interface designer, but I think there might be one or two minor flaws with this. I'm going to pretend I'm an average user for the next few paragraphs:
For starters, what the hell do I click on? Where's my home page? When I start Internet Explorer I see MSN. How come I don't see anything but blackness on Fizzik. I see a magnifying glass which I assume is to search, but what if I don't want to search? What if I want to look at ilovebacon.com? Where do I type that? Can I type that? It doesn't look like I can.
I'll give up and perform a search for ilovebacon instead. That tone on tone button is nearly an inch wide, but I still have to click right on the magnifying glass?

Ok, I'll look for a CD on Amazon instead:


...and that wraps up a new user's look at Fizzik.
Here's my beef with this program. Who is Fizzik targetting? Casual users who don't understand the complexities of the web? I don't think those are the kind of people who will be willing to figure out such an alien interface.
Is it power users who love the social web and media sites? Possibly, but those people -- like most of our readers -- would gladly choose a faster and more extensible browser like Firefox or Google Chrome and mold it into their own personalized power browser.
Ultimately, Fizzik just confuses me. What do you think, DS readers?
Fizzik's social web browser enters public beta, but I kinda wish it hadn't originally appeared on Download Squad on Mon, 10 May 2010 15:29:00 EST.
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