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If Opera 10 doesn't get noticed, we're all in big trouble
TechCrunch's Robin Wauters wonders if anyone's going to notice when the full release drops on September 1st. Ironic, really, because thousands of TC readers certainly know now if they didn't before. I tell ya, ten releases under their belt and Opera gets about as much respect as Rodney Dangerfield.
It's certainly not for a lack of effort. Opera's always been an innovative, standards-compliant browser. Those great features you love about your web browser? Opera's devoted users love to remind you that Opera had them first. Try as they might, it just doesn't seem to be helping them gain converts.
Even the stir Opera caused earlier this summer with the announcement of Unite - which was going to "reinvent the web" died out quickly. Unite received a tepid response and hasn't been talked about much since.
The quiet one in the corner that always gets ignored? That's usually the one that snaps. If you don't take notice of the Opera 10 RC, don't come crying to us when they launch a full-on assault on the Internet.
Who knows what kind of fresh Hell they'll unleash. Mutilating non-compliant web sites? Forcing all your images through their compression servers? Plastering your screen with always on top, uncloseable widgets?
Let's hope it doesn't come to that.
Comments
52
Subscribe to commentspsycrosAug 25th 2009 2:47PM
Opera's biggest weakness was always its weird, anti-intuitive interface and inability to import bookmarks. They may have fixed those things in the last couple years, but who really cares? Its a slow and occasionally buggy browser that can't render half the web correctly.
JohnAug 25th 2009 3:52PM
I guess you haven't used Opera in years. It renders the Web as well as any other browser now. And I haven't found it to be either slow or buggy-- in fact, it handles lots of tabs faster than any browser I've tried.
bill cant fartAug 25th 2009 9:12PM
I use Opera whenever Safari doesn't render properly. Slow? You've never used Turbo Mode I take it.
RocketboyAug 30th 2009 7:21PM
Don't forget, the pages that did not render properly was usually due to the page itself, and not due to Opera.
I just remember when Mozilla first became big news, and there were a large number of rendering bugs that were marked "By Design", because that's always the way Netscape did it. I quickly lost interest in Mozilla.
Saint SeminoleAug 25th 2009 2:52PM
"First" never trumps "best," at least for me, and that goes for any product, not just web browsers. Just because you invented the first handle-cranked ice-cream maker doesn't mean yours is better.
Also, "best" is subjective, depending on each user. FF is best for me, but Opera may be "best" for someone else, though I can't see how.
typoinkAug 25th 2009 3:45PM
Opera's best for me because it does everything I want a browser to do perfectly well "out-of-the-box." I've gotten Firefox configured to do the same, but it required numerous plugins (which still need to be independently configured on each system, right?) and wasn't as snappy for browsing.
The only things I like in Firefox that Opera doesn't have are Ubiquity (although it don't think it's quite "there" yet anyways) and the prettier icon.
PeterAug 25th 2009 3:12PM
Part of the problem for me is the Opera zealots. Every time you mention a feature of FF or even IE they come out of the woodwork and tell you how Opera has had that feature for years and is so much better than any other browser out there.
One time I actually tried it and was completely underwhelmed. The fanboys build it up so much that it can't possibly be as good as they make it sound like, so you go back to whatever you were using rather than learn a new interface.
Kenn.keeperAug 25th 2009 3:19PM
I'm trying to figure out how so many know about Opera when they Haven't tried it or have tried it without seeing what it really can do. I've been using Opera for quite a while now(and yes I do have a back-up one if I run into any internet problems). As I have stated before I just want my computer to run well and do what I set it up to do, nothing fancy, no add-ons, themes, rides, refreshment stands and so on. Wonder why a browser gets slow, well it's the 500GB of add-ons and themes you add to impress your friends. A web browser is a software application for retrieving, presenting, and traversing information resources on the World Wide Web.
Free is Good
Kenn.....
iubyontAug 26th 2009 1:30AM
if your concerned about speed then why aren't you using a webkit based browser. i thought they were clearly the fastest although the aren't as fully featured.
Kenn.keeperAug 26th 2009 1:44PM
To iubyont:
If you read more closely you may understand that I was refering to those who are always complaining about slow browsers and has nothing to do with me. Brush up your on english comprehension, it may help with understanding what some are writing about in here.....
Free is Good
Kenn.....
mkoAug 25th 2009 3:35PM
I've been using Opera for 7 years now and I love it.
The best feature imho is that "anti-intuitive" interface. http://i32.tinypic.com/10z4ksk.jpg
This is actually nothing like Opera has default but Opera allows you move/remove any button or command.
I don't need a back button when I have mouse gestures So I removed them. But I kept the bar put custom searches I use.
You can actually use a drop drown menu for that but I like it this way.
Opera has integrated mail client. To my knowledge only browser besides Opera to have that is SeaMonkey. I find GMail or any other web mail interfaces inefficient. With Opera I keep 5 mail accounts in check without using a notifier or opening a new tab, waiting gmail to be loaded.
Opera also has MDI interface. It keeps everything in same windows.
I don't know if you can set it other way but last time I used Firefox small pop-ups was using a new window.
Also Opera has cookie, scripting, pop up etcs settings per domain which I found useful.
People say Chrome is fast. Sure it is but, to my knowledge, it can't do anything I listed above
polobunnyAug 25th 2009 6:25PM
Try to put an element aside the top menu (just right to the help).
Can you?
iuqiddisAug 25th 2009 10:30PM
firefox allows you to easily change your interface. With some moving around, and plugins, this is what my browser looks like: http://i31.tinypic.com/a5axpl.png
As for the other features, barring the email integration, I think most can be done in ff 3.5, or with extensions.
Just saying, nothing to get all angsty about.
chrisAug 25th 2009 4:29PM
Maybe they can get the EU commission to force everyone to use their browser.
MysteriusAug 26th 2009 1:26PM
Hmm, maybe if they rename themselves Europera... ;)
m0an0mAug 25th 2009 4:57PM
Opera does the things I need, right out of the box. I don't have to go searching for plugins to handle mouse gestures/speed dial/etc. It synchronizes bookmarks/notes/history/typed addresses across all of my computers (and mobile phone), which is incredibly handy. And, if I'm on the road, I can use their compression server (Opera Turbo) to make surfing over a tethered cellphone data connection much, much, nicer. Simply stated, Opera is the best browser for me, hands down.
JaksynAug 25th 2009 5:14PM
I will not care at all what Opera does until it updates the Nintendo Wii Browser, with Flash support, Tabs and other features I believe would keep the Wii's Opera Browser relevant...
PopiAug 25th 2009 5:29PM
I use the Internet since 1992 and I can tell you that Opera is simply the best Navigator there is, since long ago.
Is more than 3 or 4 years, at least, that is completely freeware in its PC version (that means no Adware. Is completely costless, and no harass at all)
It is also as snappy as Chrome, or snappier.
And they are very innovative. Opera was the first to introduce tabbed browsing, for instance. And many of its new features are copied by other other browsers like Firefox or IE.
Is probably better than Firefox, which is the second best browser in my opinion.
But unlike Firefox, and this is its major disadvantage, Opera is not "Free Libre Open Source" software.
.
Lee MathewsAug 25th 2009 5:30PM
Good points, but I believe the tabbed browsing thing is a misconception.
InternetWorks was first with this: http://www.livinginternet.com/w/wa_browser_mult.htm
scroll down about halfway for the tabs info - was added in 1994.
der_tuxmanAug 25th 2009 6:41PM
"Opera was the first to introduce tabbed browsing", you are wrong. Tabbed browsing was introduced in InternetWorks, a Mosaic-like browser, back in 1992. Urban myths don't need to be true.