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Opera Releases Version 7 For Linux

Wee writes "I happened to notice this morning that Opera 7 for Linux has been released. New features include fastforward and rewind, the ability to take notes in conjuction with web pages, a cookie manager, a password manager, and a very serviceable integrated email client called M2 (which was previously only available for the Windows version). Version 7 of Opera also represents a complete code rewrite, from the rendering engine up, and the improvements are fairly significant. Mirrors for debs, rpms and tarballs are on Opera's download page."

22 of 391 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Eventually, this would happen by shatfield · · Score: 4, Insightful

    All of that new functionality, and I still can only send the equivalent of postcards -- Opera's M2 Email client doesn't have any support for PGP or GPG at all.

    While their initial betas were pretty shaky, this "gold" build is very stable and looks terrific. Once they get the PGP/GPG thing sorted out, I'll have to evaluate it against Mozilla and see which I like more :)

    --
    "To make a mistake is only human; to persist in a mistake is idiotic." Cicero
  2. Re:It's not free! by Cyno01 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    No, but its definitly worth paying for.

    --
    "Sic Semper Tyrannosaurus Rex."
  3. True, BUT by Hal+The+Computer · · Score: 5, Insightful

    True it may not be open source, But No one claimed that it was free software. Heck, the title for slashdot even says, News for nerd, Stuff that Matters. It dosent say, all free software.

    --

    int main(void){int x=01232;while(malloc(x));return x;}
    1. Re:True, BUT by LiquidCoooled · · Score: 2, Insightful

      is it really? I thought Linux was meant to be about freedom to choose.
      In some cases, that choice may be a closed source proprietary product. I dont complain that I have to pay for games and the like, heck I dont ever WANT to see the source for them.

      Open source is good, but business is also good - without it, I couldnt feed my family or get the other nice things I desire.

      --
      liqbase :: faster than paper
  4. Helping everyone... by zbowling · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Great. By releasing this newwer version of Opera, they are helping them get themselves more credit in the browser market. This will make it harder for designers to make the point that IE is the most used browser, so we will target only them, an idea of the past. Its hurting the Microsoft monopoly. I support this move all the way. It will make content more execessable to Linux users, but in the process will force people to make their information accessable to everyone without IE by weaning away from their IE only technologies (like VBScript, ActiveX controls, ASP.NET objects designed just for IE, and a number of other MS only techs). I don't personally like Opera but I use Mozilla (mostly the Firebird/Phonix version).

    --
    No.
    1. Re:Helping everyone... by Alpha27 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      You make too many assumptions.

      1) Opera browsers do have a setting to state their browsers are MSIE, therefore, they contribute to the MSIE percentage in a small way.

      2) MSIE has a 94%+ market share. It's pretty evident that their got the market share from the sheer availability on the desktop. The masses know little of what browser their use, they just know the icon half the time. So until that changes, but it won't change, the masses will continue to use what's already there at their finger tips, instead of downloading something else that does the same thing. Why take 3 steps, when you can take 1?

      3) Until computer OEMs sell something else, it will dominate. What regular users are going to use Linux, *BSD, OS/2 (has to go there), BeOS... when their software isn't there. Companies aren't going to waste time developing for other platofmrs if the money isn't there. So until Linux gets to the point that my mother can use it (I'm not trying to start the desktop debate because I stand by linux since it IS my primary desktop), don't expect much of a change. Also, the sheer diversity and the nuances of each don't help the situation either. When it gets down to one or two major players for desktop dominance, ONLY THEN will we see the MORE SERIOUS linux competition for desktop dominance, and it WON'T NEED Win-Emulation to accomplish it.

      Remember, we ARE the minority (referring to the mass slashdot community knowing more than the average user about computers). We are the enlightened, we are the Zion, while all the others are still living in the matrix. Until the awaken happens, I guess you better get used to those M$ products a little longer. =)

      I would love to see more standard ways to do complicated/advance things with the browser, like IE does with ActiveX, VBScript, COM, and all the other jargon I don't like with their proprietary setup.

      You really want to make a change.... make open source more united, more focused, and more friendly, as well as more of an innovator, than a replicator.

  5. Opera has lost it's appeal by Zeut · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I used to use Opera a lot. Primarily due to the fact that I could have it open up with all my web pages at once. Now that I can do this with Mozilla, I no longer use Opera. The only thing I still miss are the mouse gestures.

  6. Re:It's not free! by cscx · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Warning! The slice of pizza I had for lunch wasn't free either.

    Some things are just worth paying for.

  7. Re:Why does Opera get so much play on Slashdot? by Moses+Lawn · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It gets a lot of play because it's a cool piece of software and a lot of people use it. Their licensing model is about the very opposite of Microsoft's: use it for free and look at a small ad (that your eye will not notice after a week), or pay a bit and don't see the ad. I somehow can't see Microsoft adopting this.

    No, it's not free. So what? This is a geek news site that discusses things of interest to the community, not a Free Software site. You don't complain when articles about Unreal Tournament and Neverwinter Nights get posted, do you?

    As a user of Opera since v.3.something, I'm nothing but impressed by how it's improved. It's a lot better at getting to most sites, especially if you tell it to pretend to be IE in the agent string. I don't do online banking, so I can't say how well it works everywhere. I sometimes have to use IE on a page it doesn't like, but it's damn rare.

    --

    What if life is just a side effect of some other process and God has no idea we exist?

  8. Re:Flash, Opera, and Firebird? by Gojira+Shipi-Taro · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I'd have to venture that part of the problem, if you want to call it that, is that a good portion of users that use "fringe" browsers don't WANT flash, and so don't encounter any problem. I certainly don't need advertisements barking at me, so I would consider having Flash not work a bonus.

    Just a thought.

    --
    "Oh my God. This is terrible. This is the end of my Presidency. I'm fucked."; ~ Donald J. Trump
  9. No Mac Opera 7 by runenfool · · Score: 3, Insightful

    It looks like they have indeed given up on working on the Mac version.

    http://www.opera.com/products/desktop/index.dml? pl atform=mac

    I don't think a lot of Mac users will miss it, however. With Safari doing the things that people would have bought Opera for, its a tough sell. Of course, Opera could have made it better for themselves by making a browser that wasn't dog slow on the Mac.

  10. Re:It's not free! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Yeah, Opera's also A LOT better than Mozilla. (Less buggy, more advanced e-mail filtering, less crash prone, you cango back and forward by just using the "z" & "x" keys instead of giving yourself carpal tunnel from using a mouse etc etc.

    Finally Opera is free if you don't mind a banner ad.

    Some people think television is "free" even though they pay double for things at the supermarket that have been advertised on TV!

  11. Most Probably by Chuck+Chunder · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I've only got the Windows version to go on at the moment but Opera 7 can window every which way you like. Tabs, subwindows or top level windows in whatever mixture you choose.

    In this respect Opera have done a great job in sidestepping any doctrinal war and just letting each user work however suits them best.

    --
    Boffoonery - downloadable Comedy Benefit for Bletchley Park
  12. Re:How about some examples by bunratty · · Score: 2, Insightful
    When I was trying Opera 7.0x for Windows, I noticed that many sites did not render properly. Those sites tended to use fairly simple HTML. For example, on the front page of Slashdot, italic letters had their descenders but off on the left side of the text.

    The sites that used JS/DOM rendered correctly but were very sluggish. For example, try to navigate the menus at the PGA Tour website in Opera 7 and in another browser such as Mozilla or IE. Opera is so slow it's nearly unusable.

    --
    What a fool believes, he sees, no wise man has the power to reason away.
  13. Does this version improve font display? by perimorph · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Not trying to be a troll here.. I really liked Opera 6.x, but I always found the fonts difficult to read, so I ended up using Mozilla more frequently. Have there been many (any?) improvements with 7.11 that don't require a lot of adjustments to the default settings?

  14. Re:Can it run without a mega window? by perimorph · · Score: 2, Insightful

    In 6.11 for Linux, you can go to File -> Preferences and in the first listing on the left (General), the very first option is to "Open windows inside the Opera workspace" -- if I understood your post correctly, unchecking that should provide the result you're looking for.

  15. Opera now features opt-mod left-scrolling by westyvw · · Score: 2, Insightful

    This is something I have been waiting for forever. I mean I dont mind the plain opt for scroll, but the opt-mod in transparency is JUST KICK ASS when attached to the left scroll device feature. Man it used to be gustures, but I can really see this taking aff as more users find ways to use it!

  16. Re:Mouse Gestures here Re:Opera has lost it's appe by trtmrt · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I found that an advantage of Opera gestures is that you use them by clicking the right mouse button. In Mozilla you have to use the left mouse button if you want to get anything usable out of the gestures which is still a bit awkward. Configuring them for the right button combines the gestures with the context menu which just doesn't work. Also Opera captures the gestures much better than Mozilla that doesn't figure out the gesture pretty often.

  17. Re:Lost it's appeal? Are you kidding? by maxpublic · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Who cares if they can be found in Mozilla or not? This article isn't about Mozilla - it's about Opera.

    In any event, Opera is still much, much faster than Mozilla, and it looks like it always will be.

    The real question here is: what makes Mozilla more appealing than Opera? That it's free and open source? Big - fucking - deal.

    Max

    --
    My god carries a hammer. Your god died nailed to a tree. Any questions?
  18. Re:All very well... by maxpublic · · Score: 3, Insightful

    the dominant browser drives website innovation

    The dominant browser drives website *stagnation*. It's the maverick that drives innovation - in *any* area of human endeavor.

    Max

    --
    My god carries a hammer. Your god died nailed to a tree. Any questions?
  19. Re:It's not free! by slux · · Score: 1, Insightful

    How does this have anything to do with this?

    You can get Opera for free much in the same way you could perhaps get some free pizza (beer is a more commonly used example). Sure, there are some ads, but who cares?

    The original poster almost certainly wasn't referring to that kind of freedom.

    He wants the Pizza recipe. He wants to be able to give it to his friends too.

    Free software is really worth paying much more than proprietary.

  20. Re:All very well... by NisJ�rgensen · · Score: 3, Insightful
    The standards support in Opera 7 has been improved with added support for DOM level 2 and CSS2; improved ECMAScript and HTML 4.01 support; and complete WML 1.3 and 2.0 support. Opera 7 also handles non-standard pages using DHTML, giving Opera's millions of old and new users a hassle-free Internet experience.

    That is what's important to me. What I ultimately want to hear is that Opera can render everything Internet Explorer 6.0 can, if not more.


    I hope you realize you are asking for two different things:

    1) Opera implements more standards.
    2) Opera renderssall the pages that IE does.

    For sure Opera can render things TODAY that IE cannot. However, for some reason very few people are using the features not supported by IE