Hydra is Web Browser that features an Office 2007 style interface.

Pros: Hydra is a web browser which has all the standard web browser functions. In addition to this it has a host of features that are not necessarily standard to a web browser such as a built-in translator, RSS reader, Radio receiver, and more. It is “good ware” in that whenever you use Hydra you are contributing to a good cause – an unnamed Children’s charity – as such it is free, so for people looking to do good while they surf the Internet this might make sense. Some of the most useful features are the fact that it supports “mouse gestures” so that you can use certain “gestures” of the mouse to get certain tasks done – especially navigation tasks. The pop-up blocker, adware detector, and phishing filter are all pretty effective. One of the best features is the ability to add most frequently accessed pages on the menu bar. It also has a built-in Youtube downloader which a lot of people might find a particularly attractive feature.

Cons: Although the publisher’s description says that it has an Office 2007 style user interface, this is not really true. In look it may have achieved it somewhat in the sense of the way it groups items on the menu bar, but really it is not as good-looking as the Office 2007 interface and seems cluttered. There is a lot of menu bar space wasted that can conceivably be put to good use – the favorite pages does it somewhat but still it seems a little vacant. Basically, what works for Office (which has a lot of things going on) need not work for a web browser (relatively much less functionality required). It also appears to be slower than a standard browser, perhaps because of the additional functionality, some of which you will likely never use.

Overall: 3 stars. A fair attempt, but there are better products out there. Too many functions make it unsuitable for general use.