Opera 7 for Mac OS X Preview Released

apetime writes "A preview of Opera 7 for Mac OS X has finally been released. The new version brings Mac Opera up to date with the latest Windows and Linux releases, including the Presto rendering engine, Opera Mail client, Opera Chat client for IRC, and integration with Mac OS X's Keychain and Address Book. After fears of cancellation when Safari came out, this is great news for recent switchers and Opera fans, and another great browser choice for Mac users."

Comments

Re:Why?

[wibs]

Competition is always good... we can all see what happens to innovation when people say "what good is Netscape when IE is already on my computer?"

I find it hard to get excited about this

[tiktokfx]

I'm not saying the developers aren't providing a useful product, it just raises a question in my mind of how worthwhile it is.

Looking at this release, it's not a bad program, but it just feels... bulky. The interface isn't remarkably clean... like a large number of crossplatform programs, it's a sort of bastard, unnatural amalgam of design ideas that don't sit very well with me, at least.

In addition, I continue to not understand the point of writing one application to do several tenuously-linked tasks. Safari, Mail and Address Book are all separate apps, as an example. It's cleaner to provide well-defined applications to do certain functions, and integrate them through communications interfaces than it is to just stick functions X, Y and Z into one ball.

Re:I find it hard to get excited about this

[ogre57]

It's cleaner to provide well-defined applications to do certain functions ..

Which is why I prefer mutt, kmail, etc, detest evolution, outlook, other everything+kitchen-sink apps.

What makes this "can't win" amusing, go back a few versions. Opera was just a browser, arguably the best on the market, yet heavily diss'd for not having .. mail, address book, ...

While Safari is clearly much better than IE, some of its design decisions are annoying, and don't care for Mac's email client. When I get back to the Mac I will definitely download this latest Opera, give it a shot.

Re:I find it hard to get excited about this

[Feral Bueller]

"like a large number of crossplatform programs..."

Hi. Some of us have to develop content for browsers. Not a blog, but content. Work. Jobs (if not careers) are involved.

Opera is the only browser right now that I'm aware of besides the Mozilla family of browsers( camino, firebird/fox/chicken/etc. ) that is being written for so many platforms. Personally I think Mozilla's becoming a bit of a clusterfuck, but if you like tinkering with 15 browsers, go nuts: I've got work to do.

I also notice you said "looking" at this release. Have you tried it? One of the developers I work with swears by it and so I've been using it for a couple of weeks now. While I'm not ready to make it my default browser just yet, it's a great product. Try it for a while. You might like it.

Re:Why?

[speechpoet]

Nobody has a monopoly on innovation, and the presence of another browser in the playing field helps spur new features, leaner apps and all the good things we know and love.

(There is a knock at my door. A SCO process server has handed me a cease and desist order to the effect that, in fact, SCO does have a monopoly on innovation. I stand corrected.)

Kudos to Opera for not bailing on the Mac in the face of competition from Apple. Must be nice knowing you have bigger cojones than Adobe.

Meh.

[mikedaisey]

It just isn't very exciting. Between Safari, Camino, Firefox and Omniweb there aren't any browsing needs that remain for me to have filled...and Opera looks like boiled crap on the Mac.

Bzzznt!

[Gropo]

Open fresh Opera 7.5 window, single click on the address bar--selects all text in the string rather than inserting the cursor.

Goodbye Opera, Maybe I'll see you again when you hit 8?

Re:Bzzznt!

[FFFish]

Of course it selects all the text in the string. Not too often one's wanting to actually insert text instead of type a brand new URL that reuses the window.

A second click sets the insertion point. Groovy.

Re:Bzzznt!

[great throwdini]

Of course it selects all the text in the string. Not too often one's wanting to actually insert text instead of type a brand new URL that reuses the window.

I call bullshit. Speaking for myself, at least, I pretty much click on the string within the location bar to add (or remove) characters. Complete URL replacement is usually accomplished by pasting (after Cmd-L'ing), through a bookmark, or in a new tab/window with a clean location bar. Could just be me, but I generally only fiddle with a populated location bar to edit, rather than replace by overtyping.

In the grand scheme of things, this isn't onerous though. Firefox behaves similarly, though Safari and MSIE on a Mac sets an insertion point on first click instead (though Cmd-L selects the whole string in Safari). However, were I in Opera's shoes, it would probably make more sense to emulate the behavior of Mac's bundled browsers (past and present) and set behavior to insertion rather than selection on first click.

To each their own.

Re:Bzzznt!

[Gropo]

No, I disagree. I want all text entry fields across the entire frickin' OS to act identically, tyvm. Counteracting behaviors cause me undue thought processes, and in turn disdain towards the careless developer that made the decision to break the interface guidelines.

I'm quite in the habit--wether it be in a word processor or browser--of triple-clicking to select an entire string/paragraph.

Re:Bzzznt!

[.com b4 .storm]

However, were I in Opera's shoes, it would probably make more sense to emulate the behavior of Mac's bundled browsers (past and present) and set behavior to insertion rather than selection on first click.

Not only that, but it's the little things in a UI that can get on your nerves. In pretty much any OS X app, clicking in a text field will place the insertion point. Double-clicking will select the word under the mouse, and triple clicking will select the whole line. When an application (especially one you would potentially use very often throughout the day, like a browser) ignores these simple conventions that you don't even think about, it can be disconcerting. Case in point, many Java apps that look like Cocoa apps, but often don't behave like them in small (but noticeable) ways.

Re:Hurray!

[Ilgaz]

/. isn't a good place to read reviews about following:

1) Real, Realone, even opensource stuff coming out from Real Networks like Helix
2) AAC
3) Non open source, paid programs like Opera.

Especially on Mac SW. Don't believe? Check back this posts points 1-2 days later ;)