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Opera 9.60 Released, With Upgraded Mail Client

Kelson writes "Opera Software has released Opera 9.60, the latest version of their web browser & internet suite. It's an evolutionary release, focused on performance optimization, improving the email client and adding more items to the Opera Link synchronization service."

128 comments

  1. Re:woohoo! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Apparently you also couldn't wait to waste everybody's time with a totally pointless post on Slashdot. Good job!

    Dick.

  2. Of the dozens of people that use Opera by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    How many people use the mail client?

    1. Re:Of the dozens of people that use Opera by Arionhawk · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I haven't used the mail client in Opera to this point, but depending on the extent of the upgrades I may start to. It'd be nice to have everything all in one application.

      --
      rehab is for quitters
    2. Re:Of the dozens of people that use Opera by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You must have not heard about this great service called AOL and it has everything in one application!

      Kidding aside, Netscape was the same way and same goes for Mozilla until a few years later when it was split apart for Firefox and Thunderbird. Check out the seamonkey suite to see how it was back in the 'good' ole days.

    3. Re:Of the dozens of people that use Opera by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I haven't used the mail client in Opera to this point, but depending on the extent of the upgrades I may start to. It'd be nice to have everything all in one application.

      Let's also put an HTML editor in there and call it Mozilla. Then let's make it bigger and more robust.

    4. Re:Of the dozens of people that use Opera by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Opera is FAR smaller than firefox. And thats without the 13MB of extensions needed to match the features I use.

      Memory footprint is also MUCH smaller.

      Bear in mind that I don't use the mail client at all, neither do I use the bittorrent client, the RSS client. Firefox is still bigger and less responsive.

    5. Re:Of the dozens of people that use Opera by wintermute1974 · · Score: 1

      I tried the M2 client when it first came out in Opera. I stuck with it for about a year, hoping that terms like "revolutionary" and "bold re-imagining of e-mail" would actually take hold within my brain. It didn't.

      If someone ever wanted a brief summary of M2, I'd say it's like GMail's retarded little brother.

    6. Re:Of the dozens of people that use Opera by mdwh2 · · Score: 1

      Ah, a quick snipe at its lack of popularity.

      If popularity is all that matters, then IE must be the best browser. Funny how Firefox fans suddenly aren't so keen to follow this logic when it comes to IE? You can't have it both ways.

      I use the browser that I like most. I was using Opera before Firefox even existed, and long before it became trendy not to use IE. The fact that more people use Firefox than Opera is no more relevant to me than the fact that more people use IE.

    7. Re:Of the dozens of people that use Opera by JCholewa · · Score: 1

      I haven't checked the install file sizes lately, but one of the neat things about Opera is that it adds a lot of funtionality while still being very compact. Last time I checked, it had a *much* smaller download (and often memory) footprint than Firefox (especially when FF was v2) even with that extra functionality. It's also nice about not loading parts of the app that you don't need. Id est, if you don't load up a mail tab in Opera, it doesn't allocate resources needed for it. Feeds did get a big laggy when I used them, though, but that's probabaly because I go overboard with feeds (nrss == winner!). ^_^

  3. Re:woohoo! by Yvan256 · · Score: 0

    Apparently you also couldn't wait to waste everybody's time with a totally pointless post on Slashdot.

    You must be new here.

  4. Yes but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    As a greasy Open Sores advocate, can I still spout my idiotic talking points about how I use this web browser?

    I don't think so. I'll pass...

    1. Re:Yes but... by kesuki · · Score: 1

      they're the only commercial browser maker to survive IE. i realize the guy from netscape created the mozilla foundation when he sold netscape to aol, but even aol has dropped netscape support as a result of firefox's popularity. thus making opera the only closed source IE survivor.

      that alone is an accomplishment. and what other browser can run on a nintendo DS?

  5. Re:woohoo! by BlackCobra43 · · Score: 1

    I wish I could un-read your post and pray that those responsible for it have been sacked.

    --
    I never spellcheck and I freely admit it. Save your karma for more worthwhile "lol erorrs" replies
  6. Re:woohoo! by Smivs · · Score: 2

    Well said! I'm a big Opera fan (although I don't use the mail client) and I really don't understand the 'down' some people have on this most excellent browser. Perhaps he's a Microsoft whore.

  7. QT4 vs QT3 by Sahtor · · Score: 2, Informative

    The official download defaults to QT3 even though same build is offered as QT4 in beta.

    There might be graphical bugs but I couldnt find any.

    1. Re:QT4 vs QT3 by Sterling+Christensen · · Score: 2, Informative

      A QT4 version of the official release is also available, but only for 32 bit x86.

      Downloadable here:
      ftp://ftp.opera.com/pub/opera/linux/960/final/en/i386/

      Gentoo's ebuild will install the QT4 version on 32 bit x86 if you have the qt-static flag on and the qt3-static flag off.

    2. Re:QT4 vs QT3 by Spasmodeus · · Score: 1

      It should also be pointed out the the QT4 builds are not available as dynamically linked binaries, unlike the QT3 version, which is available with static or dynamic builds.

  8. It's the only non-free sofware I run. by netux · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It's a lot lighter weight than FF and has everything built in including IRC and BT, spell check uses gnu-aspell, and the email client rocks. Tabs and mouse getures came from it, so whats not to love. If you haven't used it check it out. If you have, but not for a while, do yourself a favor and see how it is now.

    1. Re:It's the only non-free sofware I run. by Threni · · Score: 1

      > whats not to love.

      Proprietary applications without full source code availability ("of course I trust some American companies browser with my bank's passwords...")

    2. Re:It's the only non-free sofware I run. by 99BottlesOfBeerInMyF · · Score: 1

      It's a lot lighter weight than FF and has everything built in including IRC and BT, spell check uses gnu-aspell, and the email client rocks.

      On OS X, it's never really been much of a contender. I checked out this release. It does better for standards compliance, but is still slower than Safari in general. For javascript it is still slower than the stable version of Safari and nowhere near the performance of the Safari betas with the javascript performance improvements. Using gnu-aspell is a minus in my book, at least on OS X, where there is a system-wide spell checking service. Training yet another spell checker for another application that has been ported but ignored the features of the OS to which it was ported is quite inconvenient. It also lacks support for the built in grammar checking and other system services (like gestures).

      For Windows, Opera is one of the better browsers, but it is still badly focused on that platform. Linux and OS X versions are better than they were five years ago, but still not great and not really competitive.

    3. Re:It's the only non-free sofware I run. by bconway · · Score: 4, Informative

      > whats not to love.

      Proprietary applications without full source code availability ("of course I trust some American companies browser with my bank's passwords...")

      Opera is Norwegian.

      --
      Interested in open source engine management for your Subaru?
    4. Re:It's the only non-free sofware I run. by nareshov · · Score: 2, Insightful

      whats not to love.

      Lack of adblock plus. (the inbuilt isn't as good as AB+)

    5. Re:It's the only non-free sofware I run. by not+already+in+use · · Score: 1

      Who let Richard Stallman out of his cage?

      --
      Similes are like metaphors
    6. Re:It's the only non-free sofware I run. by Kryptikmo · · Score: 1

      Does it have adblock plus? Cause if not, I won't use it. Adblock is the only reason I use FF, and not Konq. on KDE. And the same deal with Safari on OS X. Adblock Plus is, quite simply, the most 'killer' feature that I have ever seen in a piece of software. I wish I could get something similar for Safari on the iPhone, because the large flash ads are the only thing that ruin the net experience on the iPhone.

    7. Re:It's the only non-free sofware I run. by aussie_a · · Score: 1

      Some of us actually like to support the websites we visit by viewing their ads.

    8. Re:It's the only non-free sofware I run. by sznupi · · Score: 1

      Which, for those who don't know, means: scandinavian mentality = at least as good as typical well know open source project.

      --
      One that hath name thou can not otter
    9. Re:It's the only non-free sofware I run. by ozphx · · Score: 1

      When did you last personally audit your browser's source?

      --
      3laws: No freebies, no backsies, GTFO.
    10. Re:It's the only non-free sofware I run. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's a lot lighter weight than ...

      It's friggin bloatware: It's got an EMAIL CLIENT in it.

    11. Re:It's the only non-free sofware I run. by notrandomly · · Score: 1

      scandinavian mentality = at least as good as typical well know open source project

      I don't know what this is supposed to mean :)

    12. Re:It's the only non-free sofware I run. by sweet_petunias_full_ · · Score: 1

      Sorry to break your perceptions, but Opera is actually a festering privacy nightmare.

      By default it sends each and every one of your URL requests to click-tracker site. If you don't believe me, check with a packet sniffer.

      If it had been open source, I dare say that wouldn't have been the default.

      --
      You can't send a takedown notice to an already printed newspaper.
    13. Re:It's the only non-free sofware I run. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sorry to break your perceptions, but Opera is actually a festering privacy nightmare.

      By default it sends each and every one of your URL requests to click-tracker site. If you don't believe me, check with a packet sniffer.

      Ah yes, click tracker. That's it. You obviously must have been analyzing that traffic quite carefully to reach your conclusion.

      Conspiracy theories are always so much more attractive than the truth, aren't they?

      http://www.opera.com/docs/fraudprotection/

    14. Re:It's the only non-free sofware I run. by MrAngryForNoReason · · Score: 1

      It does better for standards compliance, but is still slower than Safari in general.

      You can't really compare Safari to Opera. Safari is about as bare-bones as a browser can be. I am all for not bundling in unecessary bloat but I find Safari pretty much unusable after having used Opera. Custom searching, mouse gestures and dynamic tabs are the first things that come to mind. Other obvious ones would be session management and being able to choose where to save a download instead of everything going to wherever you set in the preferences.

    15. Re:It's the only non-free sofware I run. by MrAngryForNoReason · · Score: 1

      It's friggin bloatware: It's got an EMAIL CLIENT in it.

      With an installer that is just 5.4mb that is some pretty skinny bloat.

    16. Re:It's the only non-free sofware I run. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I dont think you've ever tried the built-in content blocker. It intercepts any request that matches a wildcard filter, even ones that come through plugins like flash player. I haven't seen one ad on hulu or fancast because my opera wont let it load them!

    17. Re:It's the only non-free sofware I run. by mdwh2 · · Score: 1

      So Open Source is great - but why is it only Opera that draws this criticism? By that reasoning, Apple should be disliked too, for example - but I don't see you posting this comment to every Apple story.

      Go on, try it - I bet you'd be modded down.

    18. Re:It's the only non-free sofware I run. by mdwh2 · · Score: 1

      Opera is bloatware?

      Opera 9.6 size: 5.4MB
      Firefox 3 size: 7MB. And that's not including all the extensions needed to duplicate Opera's built-in functionality.

    19. Re:It's the only non-free sofware I run. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Lack of adblock plus. (the inbuilt isn't as good as AB+)" - by nareshov (1093611) on Wednesday October 08, @03:51PM (#25304641)

      A custom HOSTS file (which can be used on most any OS there is that has a BSD based Tcp/IP stack) can do this for you (and it will work across each and every webbrowser, email program, you-name-it-program that accesses the internet that you have online, & quite easily (all it takes is a good starter HOSTS file and notepad.exe to edit/add/remove entries from its content))

      Practice using custom HOSTS files, & in combination with reliable + reputable websites for security like Dancho Danchev's blog, StopBadWare (google), Shadowserver, & others (all are daily to weekly updated with lists of websites &/or bad adbanner servers that are malicious are there and you can add their URL's to your hosts file (127.0.0.1, 0.0.0.0, or 0 to block them)) and you are all set, security-wise, vs. the malicious webservers, websites, & adbanners out there today online.

      Between using a custom HOSTS file for safety (& added speed by not loading adbanners + putting in the IP-to-URL addresses of your favorite websites hardcoded there also, after you ping them to determine their current IP address) and disabling the usage of Javascript, IFrames, &/or browser plugins (on "every website under the sun"/every site you go to), you are far more safe(r) online than depending on yet another browser addon alone (though you can layer those in as added protection also if you wish)... &/also, due to using a custom hosts files, you can go faster online too (via blocking adbanners & also hardcoding in your favorite websites IP-to-URL equation also), not to mention added speed gains possible by stalling out javascript (never mind the security increase alone that you would get in doing so).

      APK

    20. Re:It's the only non-free sofware I run. by 99BottlesOfBeerInMyF · · Score: 1

      You can't really compare Safari to Opera. Safari is about as bare-bones as a browser can be.

      I can and do compare them when trying to pick a browser for everyday use.

      I am all for not bundling in unecessary bloat but I find Safari pretty much unusable after having used Opera.

      That's a fine opinion, but your supporting facts are a bit questionable.

      • Custom searching - you can do this with a plug-in, but it is a valid point.
      • mouse gestures - I prefer mouse gestures implemented at the OS level. I actually do use mouse gestures in Safari and in a lot of other programs. It would suck to have to configure them separately for every program using a different interface.
      • dynamic tabs - have been in OS X for quite a while.
      • session management - integrated with bookmarks and has been for a while now
      • being able to choose where to save a download - right click and select "Download Linked File As" to specify the location. This has been there since the earliest betas of Safari.

      I think maybe you're just more familiar with Opera and haven't bothered to figure out how to use many of Safari's features. The big advantages of Safari in my mind are:

      • Support for system services - default spell checker, grammar checker, text manipulation, language translation, mouse gestures, dictionary/thesaurus lookup, etc.
      • resizable text fields - I love being able to drag the text box on Slashdot bigger so I can actually see my whole post. It's been over a year now people, why hasn't this been copied by other browsers?
      • Speed - Opera is just really slow to render pages and especially to execute javascript. They've fallen way behind there.

      Well, to each their own.

    21. Re:It's the only non-free sofware I run. by sweet_petunias_full_ · · Score: 1

      Sorry, but your argument provides no real evidence to contradict my claim of what I witnessed coming out of Opera. Simply insisting that it is so doesn't do it for me.

      The link you provide does not counter my own personally collected evidence. It's worth about as much as a typical privacy policy as far as I'm concerned.

      Before you point the accusing finger of conspiracy theory, install a recent Opera, learn how to sniff traffic, then get back to me on that.

      My claim that it's spyware stands.

      --
      You can't send a takedown notice to an already printed newspaper.
    22. Re:It's the only non-free sofware I run. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sorry, but your argument provides no real evidence to contradict my claim of what I witnessed coming out of Opera. Simply insisting that it is so doesn't do it for me.

      The link you provide does not counter my own personally collected evidence. It's worth about as much as a typical privacy policy as far as I'm concerned.

      Before you point the accusing finger of conspiracy theory, install a recent Opera, learn how to sniff traffic, then get back to me on that.

      My claim that it's spyware stands.

      I have provided documentation of the traffic that is actually sent and received in a default install of Opera. You have offered an unsubstantiated and ratheer outrageous claim.
      I fail to see how I can contradict a claim that is not supported by any evidence other than the wild ramblings of a single person.

      The first version of Opera was released 13 years ago. Do you really honestly think you're the first person to ever hook it up to a packet sniffer? How come you are the only person to make this claim, where are all the other comments about this, where are all the outraged blog posts?

      I recommend you take a closer look at your findings, whatever they may be. I think you will find that what you are seeing is not what you think it is.

      If you still insist that Opera is in fact "a festering privacy nightmare", please provide hard evidence to support your claim, rather than ask others to try reproducing your delusions.
      If you can't, please stop trying to spread FUD. The world doesn't need more people like you.

    23. Re:It's the only non-free sofware I run. by sweet_petunias_full_ · · Score: 1

      I have provided documentation of the traffic that is actually sent and received in a default install of Opera.

      You have done no such thing. Claiming that opera behaves a certain way and actually proving that it behaves that way are two different things. Short of full corporate transparency, there is no way to prove that the URLs sent by the browser will not be stored, despite claims otherwise. The fact is that they are being sent from my browser. Thus, they can be stored and abused without my knowledge, and that is enough for it to be a privacy problem.

      You have offered an unsubstantiated and ratheer outrageous claim.

      No, actually, it is your claim that mine is a conspiracy theory that is galling, when all anyone has to do to verify my claim is to simply check the traffic from their own (recent opera) browser. If you don't want to be bothered to do it, that isn't my problem. If sniffing tools are illegal in your country, and that's why you can't see it, that's not my problem either.

      Do you really honestly think you're the first person to ever hook it up to a packet sniffer?

      Go do a search, and you'll see I'm not the only person to notice this, and not even the only person to report it.

      ...please stop trying to spread FUD. The world doesn't need more people like you.

      Actually, it is not FUD, because FUD is by nature unable to be pinned down by evidence. Anyone can try it on their own browser, which is much more believable than any evidence that I can claim to show here, which you will denounce as false anyway because of your exaggerated and preconceived notions of me as a conspiracy type.

      Let everyone sniff the opera browser's output and come to their own conclusion, and not take the word of either of us.

      --
      You can't send a takedown notice to an already printed newspaper.
  9. I love Opera by BlowHole666 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Opera and myself have been browsing the web for porn since 2000 :) I never leave my pants on the floor without it :)

    --
    I smoked pot once. But I DID NOT inhale. Will you hire me?
    1. Re:I love Opera by Yvan256 · · Score: 3, Funny

      Forgot to click that "Post Anonymously" checkbox again, eh?

    2. Re:I love Opera by BlowHole666 · · Score: 1

      Naw, nothing wrong with porn :) Wait a second you said "eh?" are you Canadian?

      --
      I smoked pot once. But I DID NOT inhale. Will you hire me?
    3. Re:I love Opera by Yvan256 · · Score: 2, Funny

      What makes you say that eh?

    4. Re:I love Opera by BlowHole666 · · Score: 1

      Because I have a few Canadian friends eh, and they always say eh.

      --
      I smoked pot once. But I DID NOT inhale. Will you hire me?
    5. Re:I love Opera by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So, are you two going to get it on today or not eh?

    6. Re:I love Opera by edmicman · · Score: 1

      What's that, buddy?

    7. Re:I love Opera by Mordok-DestroyerOfWo · · Score: 1

      Don't call him 'buddy' friend!

      --
      "Never let your sense of morals prevent you from doing what is right" - Salvor Hardin
    8. Re:I love Opera by __aailob1448 · · Score: 1

      Don't call him 'friend', guy!

    9. Re:I love Opera by VGPowerlord · · Score: 1

      Don't call him "guy," buddy!

      --
      GLaDOS for President 2016! "Well here we are again. It's always such a pleasure." -- GLaDOS, 2011
    10. Re:I love Opera by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Dudes!

  10. Too many browsers by malajerry · · Score: 2, Funny

    Someone needs to engineer an app that would let me have a tab for each, we could call it Firefopera Internet Chromesplorer!

    1. Re:Too many browsers by Yvan256 · · Score: 1

      You forgot one.

      Internet Explorer + Firefox + Opera + Safari + Chrome = Internet Firopesafrome.

    2. Re:Too many browsers by malajerry · · Score: 1

      Well Chrome and Safari both use webkit for a renderer so only counted one.

    3. Re:Too many browsers by Yvan256 · · Score: 1

      AFAIK WebKit is an Apple fork of KHTML, so you should list the original instead.

      In that mindset you should say "Netscape" instead of "Firefox" too. ;)

  11. Stop it already "FireFox Fiends"... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "I really don't understand the 'down' some people have on this most excellent browser." - by Smivs (1197859) on Wednesday October 08, @02:02PM (#25302743) Homepage

    Nope, FireFox freaks have more of a tendency to put down Opera, then IE fans (MS fans) do... by far.

    1. Re:Stop it already "FireFox Fiends"... by kamikazearun · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Nope, FireFox freaks have more of a tendency to put down Opera, then IE fans (MS fans) do... by far.

      I believe that has something to do with the fact that IE's bestest fans don't know of any other browsers.

    2. Re:Stop it already "FireFox Fiends"... by Smivs · · Score: 1

      You're right! My Wife is a fire-foxy and she hates Opera too. Women!

    3. Re:Stop it already "FireFox Fiends"... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      I don't know why Firefox people put down Opera. If Opera were to go away, where would Firefox developers get their ideas from? Firefox would stagnate.

    4. Re:Stop it already "FireFox Fiends"... by Kadagan+AU · · Score: 1

      I also would mention that I'm pretty sure Opera was the first to block unrequested popups (I'm not positive, but it was the first I saw doing that), and first with mouse gestures.

      On a side note, has anyone used Opera mobile much, and how has it been?

      --
      This space for rent, inquire within.
    5. Re:Stop it already "FireFox Fiends"... by BollocksToThis · · Score: 1

      Why, they could copy the fresh and innovative features found in Microsoft's excellent browser.

      Have you seen IE7 yet? They let you view multiple pages inside one window, via "tabs". Genius!

      --
      This sig is part of your complete breakfast.
    6. Re:Stop it already "FireFox Fiends"... by centuren · · Score: 1

      "Yea, small wonder that you hate Opera, you 'FF fiend', you - Especially considering FireFox took features from Opera, such as:

      1.) Primarily: The tabbed browsing style of user interface in a webbrowser from Opera (who had it prior to FF &/or IE) & built it into FF as a 'native feature'

      2.) Also/Secondly (& far more recently), also how the .xpi addons makers for FireFox took the Opera 'speed-dial' feature & mimicked it for FireFox, via such an addon"...

      ----

      Yes - That simple set of truths ALWAYS 'gets the firefox fiends' goats', everytime, & simply because it IS, the truth.

      And the truth is??

      "Imitation IS the sincerest form of flattery!" ... & there is NO question that FireFox's dev team AND their addon makers rip features from Opera...

      The whole Opera had XX features first doesn't fly in my book, certainly not when argued in any environment that has a tendency to support FOSS. I must be reading the wrong articles' comments lately, since the I am not hearing the FOSS voice much standing up for these things.

      Even considering that, quality does matter. I used Opera when Mozilla still a monster, and loved tabs and mouse gestures. When Firefox came, and then had those options available, I was pleased to have them in a top notch browser that was open source to boot.

      That said, I am ready for something better. If the reviews are great, I'll give Opera a look, but I imagine they're on the same page as everyone else.

    7. Re:Stop it already "FireFox Fiends"... by badran · · Score: 0

      Opera mobile is great... And Opera Mini is ever better, only needs JAVA on a phone and it compresses the data so it is fast but not that secure as data is passed via the opera servers 1st. For casual browsing while commuting it is perfect.

    8. Re:Stop it already "FireFox Fiends"... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The real truth is that you will be modded down here at slashdot for telling the truth about Opera being superior on many levels to Firefox.

    9. Re:Stop it already "FireFox Fiends"... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "The whole Opera had XX features first doesn't fly in my book, certainly not when argued in any environment that has a tendency to support FOSS" - by centuren (106470) on Thursday October 09, @12:08AM (#25309185) Homepage

      /.'s community has an immediate BIAS against anyone that doesn't do "FOSS", and that it is ok to steal the ideas (and probably code as well) of others from what you're stating, apparently.

    10. Re:Stop it already "FireFox Fiends"... by centuren · · Score: 1

      "The whole Opera had XX features first doesn't fly in my book, certainly not when argued in any environment that has a tendency to support FOSS" - by centuren (106470) on Thursday October 09, @12:08AM (#25309185) Homepage

      /.'s community has an immediate BIAS against anyone that doesn't do "FOSS", and that it is ok to steal the ideas (and probably code as well) of others from what you're stating, apparently.

      "The whole Opera had XX features first doesn't fly in my book, certainly not when argued in any environment that has a tendency to support FOSS" - by centuren (106470) on Thursday October 09, @12:08AM (#25309185) Homepage

      /.'s community has an immediate BIAS against anyone that doesn't do "FOSS", and that it is ok to steal the ideas (and probably code as well) of others from what you're stating, apparently.

      "The whole Opera had XX features first doesn't fly in my book, certainly not when argued in any environment that has a tendency to support FOSS" - by centuren (106470) on Thursday October 09, @12:08AM (#25309185) Homepage

      /.'s community has an immediate BIAS against anyone that doesn't do "FOSS", and that it is ok to steal the ideas (and probably code as well) of others from what you're stating, apparently.

      That's apparent if you take the opening sentence and assume that nothing following it is further explanation, yes.

      If your attention span survives the paragraph, the lack of comprehension in your response is what's apparent.

      One important idea behind FOSS is innovating on what's out there for the benefit of all. There's no secret that there is a high number of FOSS supports in the /. community.

      Complaining the Opera had XX features first doesn't fly, because Firefox has done them much better (imho).

      I finish by saying that I'll give Opera another shot if they've actually innovated again, just like I did when they first came on the market as the best.

      My point is that who had what first doesn't matter: no one can expect to ride one or two innovations without continuing to maintain that lead. I used Opera when I felt it was the best browser, and I haven't used it for years. It's not even my second choice.

      That's only my opinion, of course. Anyone who argues that Opera is a quality browser based on XX current features is expressing their opinion (and I'll read through their points to see if I find changes that address the issues I have with Opera).

      Arguing that Opera had XX features first is a poor argument, in any environment where people are looking for quality, not a time line. If you disagree with that statement, come up with a response to it, not a wildly (or conveniently) illogical inference.

  12. Opera has a mail client? by kimvette · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Opera has a mail client? Who knew?

    Seriously - until a few weeks ago I never noticed it had a mail client. I just use Opera to verify sites. I never checked to see what other features the browser had. I'd run it long enough to see that menus, etc. rendered correctly and then shut it down and go right back to Firefox.

    I mean, really. With all the great open source mail clients out there, why would I need a mail client from Opera?

    --
    The Christian Right is Neither (Christian nor right). See: Matthew 23, Matthew 25, Ezekiel 16:48-50
    1. Re:Opera has a mail client? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      You have a good slashdot approved post.You praise open source, You praise Firefox, and you tell us that you are standards compliant or you at least try to make your web applications cross browser compliant. You get an sticker.

    2. Re:Opera has a mail client? by siyavash · · Score: 1

      You are a brainwashed idiot.

    3. Re:Opera has a mail client? by malajerry · · Score: 1

      It was added in the heyday of Netscape as an all in one, at one time Opera had an email client, Irc client, and an Aim/Icq client

  13. Re:woohoo! by TriezGamer · · Score: 1

    Richard, is that you?

  14. Opera is Great (but not perfect) by buddhaunderthetree · · Score: 1

    I've been using opera since v2. And yes that makes me one of those people who actually paid for a browser. Over the years it's grown in size and complexity but still manages a great and fast browser.

    But I have to admit I'm finding Chrome very alluring.

    --
    "Technology.....the knack of so arranging the world that we don't have to experience it." Max Firsch
  15. atm, preferred choice by FornaxChemica · · Score: 1

    If I had to choose between Firefox 3, Chrome and Opera, currently I'd rather use Opera. It's the only one of the three that does not blur images that have been resized in the html source. FF3 and Chrome use scaling interpolation (or antialising?) so heavily on the images it makes you feel as if you had some kind of selective myopia. That unwanted effect breaks the design of a lot of pixelart/retrogaming websites, including mine, and I really don't see in which circumtances it may actually be useful.

  16. I like Opera by BaileDelPepino · · Score: 5, Informative

    If you haven't tried Opera, I highly recommend you give it a spin. It's a great browser and it's worth using for regular browsing; even better than Firefox, in my opinion. Firefox's extensions still give it the edge for web development, but Opera is quite close. Here are my favorite features Opera has over Firefox:
    A sexy default look. I think Opera generally looks much sleeker, and the smooth-scrolling is worlds better (parabolic instead of linear, I think). It's a tiny aesthetic change that makes a big difference in ease of use (I don't lose my place) and feel of the app.
    Speed dial. You've got your top nine right there in front of you.
    The Wand. It's a huge time-saver if you have multiple logins for a site. Just click the username you need to use, and Opera submits the form with the creds you picked. It's faster and less clunky than the dropdown that Firefox uses.
    The Trash bin. It lets you pick any recently closed page; you don't have to Ctrl-Shift-T through all the tabs you just closed to find the right one.
    Quick search. Firefox has inline search too, but Opera simultaneously highlights *all* occurrences of the search text as you type.
    And finally...
    Dragonfly, the Opera javascript debugger. This baby is impressive. It's much easier to use than Venkman and rivals Firebug. The script window lets you pick any loaded script (inline scripts have their own entry!). The DOM tab (which is less spastic than Firebug's) lets you inspect all of your elements in folding-tree style. The Styles pane with then show you the explicit and computed styles on the element. Fantastic.
    So give Opera a try. You might find a thing or three that you like.

    --
    Miren al Pepino! Los vegetales invidian a su amigo, como él quieren bailar. Pepino Bailarín!
    1. Re:I like Opera by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Just upgraded from 9.52 to 9.6

      9.6 screams.

    2. Re:I like Opera by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Seriously? In case you weren't trolling, there's hardly nothing there that Firefox doesn't have.

    3. Re:I like Opera by Kadagan+AU · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Seriously? In case you weren't baiting for a flame war.. GP never said that Firefox doesn't have these things, he said that they are implemented better in Opera. Also, Opera is where mouse gestures started, and even though I use a FF plugin to have them at work, I still think that Opera implemented them better as well. If you haven't ever tried Opera, you really should! At least give it an unbiased look.

      --
      This space for rent, inquire within.
    4. Re:I like Opera by VGPowerlord · · Score: 1

      A sexy default look. I think Opera generally looks much sleeker, and the smooth-scrolling is worlds better (parabolic instead of linear, I think). It's a tiny aesthetic change that makes a big difference in ease of use (I don't lose my place) and feel of the app.

      So, Opera went back to the pre-9.5 look? I switched from Opera as my main browser to Firefox shortly after Firefox 3 came out. I was NOT happy after upgrading to Opera 9.5 and finding out that it went from OK looking defaults (I had it set to the Windows style theme, the *other* default) to "Gothpra."

      Seriously, Opera 9.2x had nice looking buttons and everything; Opera 9.5x had black and white buttons with a handful of exceptions (3? 4?). I really should screenshot both with menus open so readers can see better examples, particularly the mail or favorites menu.

      --
      GLaDOS for President 2016! "Well here we are again. It's always such a pleasure." -- GLaDOS, 2011
    5. Re:I like Opera by psavo · · Score: 1

      Opera can also have SINGLE key hotkeys (like 'z' for go-back and 'x' for forward, 1 & 2 for moving inbetween tabs). For some reason (probably gmail & greader having hotkeys) they turned them off since 9.50, but they're toggleable back on.

      --
      fucktard is a tenderhearted description
    6. Re:I like Opera by 99BottlesOfBeerInMyF · · Score: 1

      In case you weren't baiting for a flame war.. GP never said that Firefox doesn't have these things, he said that they are implemented better in Opera. Also, Opera is where mouse gestures started, and even though I use a FF plugin to have them at work, I still think that Opera implemented them better as well.

      You make valid points and I agree that Opera's implementation of mouse gestures on Windows is better than FF, but I still think it is wrong. Mouse gestures, spell checking, grammar checking, and similar functions should be implemented at the OS level and usable by applications the way they are in OS X. I mean why would you want to have to re-enter and retrain your mouse gestures for each application individually and just go without them in the majority of applications where the developer did not bother to implement them? The same goes for spell checking. I already told my word processor that 'MPLS' is not a misspelling. My layout program, mail program, browser, text editor, and chat program all use the built in spelling checker so they know it as well. Then Opera goes and ignores the built in service and implements their own spelling checker and their own mouse gestures and does not offer them as services or even use the standard APIs. That sucks. It also means in order to use the built in grammar checker I have to copy text out of my text field in Opera and into any one of the programs I listed above, check the grammar, then copy and paste it back into Opera. It's like I'm back in the 90's again.

      I truly wish Linux and Windows would implement system services like OS X does, but that would probably be a lot of work and too much to hope for. On the other hand, wishing Opera would learn to code for OS X instead of making their program act like a weak port from Windows, doesn't seem like too much to ask. What's the point of having a better OS with a superior way to implement these features if a large number of major developers still focus on Windows and ignore those better ways of doing things? That's probably one of the reasons why Opera on OS X is so unpopular.

    7. Re:I like Opera by ozphx · · Score: 1

      I use Opera.

      The only problem that I have with it, is that the goddamn space-bar scroll is 100% of a window height. Not something sane like 95% so you can see the last line of text you were reading.

      --
      3laws: No freebies, no backsies, GTFO.
    8. Re:I like Opera by MrAngryForNoReason · · Score: 1

      why would you want to have to re-enter and retrain your mouse gestures for each application individually

      You would have to do this anyway as you need to interact with different programs in different ways. So you end up with weird cross overs. A down mouse gesture might open a new tab in a browser but in iTunes it might start a new playlist. It would be impossible to make the gestures intuitive over all programs so you would still have to learn them for each one.

      Also most programs don't demand the type of interaction that benefits from mouse gestures. If you are word processing or coding then you have both hands on the keyboard, video and music players are only interacted with occasionally and most third party apps are too specialised for a generic system of gestures.

      Spell checking is easy to implement at an OS level as it is consistent between programs, mouse gestures aren't.

    9. Re:I like Opera by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Re the trash bin, Firefox has that in History > Recently Closed Tabs.

    10. Re:I like Opera by 99BottlesOfBeerInMyF · · Score: 1

      You would have to do this anyway as you need to interact with different programs in different ways. So you end up with weird cross overs.

      This isn't theoretical. I actually use gestures across applications now. There are a lot of common features/functions across applications. Being able to easily specify the same gesture and not have to retrain is a huge time saver. For example, a gesture to save a file that works across a range of image editing and layout programs where I'm not using the keyboard much is a huge help. Also, just not having to learn the interface for setting and training gestures for each individual application is a huge time saver.

      Also most programs don't demand the type of interaction that benefits from mouse gestures.

      But a significant number do. For some users, especially users using alternative interfaces or interfaces for the handicapped they are incredibly useful even in applications where the average person would not use them. Also, implementing it once and letting every program use it saves resources and reduces complexity.

      Spell checking is easy to implement at an OS level as it is consistent between programs, mouse gestures aren't.

      Which is why OS's should have a built in system for implementing arbitrary functionality across applications so it is easy to implement spell checking or mouse gestures or any number of other functions that most people may not want, but which are huge time savers for some. Claiming it is hard to do, is just more praise for OS X, where this has been working for eight years now. They did it right and it works better than other OS's in that regard. I don't see how you can argue implementing such functionality separately for each application is superior in any way. Being hard doesn't make something inferior.

    11. Re:I like Opera by MrAngryForNoReason · · Score: 1

      This isn't theoretical. I actually use gestures across applications now.

      I have had a look in OSX (10.4.11) and online and can't find a way to setup mouse gestures without using a third-party program? From your comments I presumed it was an OS feature, are you using a third party app or is it just hidden away somewhere?

    12. Re:I like Opera by 99BottlesOfBeerInMyF · · Score: 1

      I have had a look in OSX (10.4.11) and online and can't find a way to setup mouse gestures without using a third-party program? From your comments I presumed it was an OS feature, are you using a third party app or is it just hidden away somewhere?

      I'm using a service (I believe it is called 'cocoa gesture') and it is a third party offering. System services are a function of OS X that allow programs and stand alone services to offer functionality across all applications, instead of just one application (like Opera does). This applies to all programs that use the native APIs for things like text handling, but excludes programs like Opera who just do a quick and dirty port and don't bother with standard APIs. In this way I've been gestures across many applications for many years. You just drop a foo.service file into either /System/Library/Services or ~/Library/Services depending upon if you want it accessible to all users or just one.

  17. Mail client kicks rear by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    Seriously, Opera's mail client is amazing (No, I don't work for them). I've tried the other biggies (MS and TBird) and I really like the way Opera manages the content. It's almost like they took a step back and examined all the things that email should do as a properly databased system and made it do those things. Finding an email that's a few years old is extremely fast and easy, the filter system/contacts is amazing, it really understands the concept of an instance of the email -- the same email can appear in multiple places but doesn't have to be copied. It's just smooth. Only two minor gripes: 1-it's quite technical and I've had a bit of a hard time showing non-techs how to get the most of it, and 2-no HTML composition, but who cares? I'm in the design business and I rarely need it -- it's one of those features desired by people who really think that putting their content in bright green will make it more interesting/important (sorry, got off on a rant there)

    1. Re:Mail client kicks rear by Kiarn · · Score: 1

      I've been using the mail client for a good 2+ years now for work...I can't live without it now.

  18. Re:woohoo! by digidave · · Score: 2, Insightful

    That might be because switching from IE to Opera is relatively easy. IE is a very basic browser so when you switch to Opera you get all sorts of new features to play with.

    When you're a Firefox user the first thing you miss is all the Firefox extensions. Firebug? AdBlock Plus subscriptions? Some Firefox extensions are replaced by Opera features, but many aren't. It's difficult trying to live without features you're used to. It's like having dual monitors for a few years and then going back to a single monitor.

    --
    The global economy is a great thing until you feel it locally.
  19. Re:I love Opera Maybe because he's totally.. by davidsyes · · Score: 1

    OP ERRATIC?

    --
    Previously: "Linux... Toward the Sunrise..." Now: "Linux... Toward the-- No, now, part of Every Sunrise"
  20. Re:woohoo! by A+Friendly+Troll · · Score: 2, Insightful

    On the other hand, an Opera user trying to use Firefox feels lost, the same way :)

    I'm still using 9.27. Tried 9.5 and it had so many quirks that I reverted back. Not quite sure if I should even try 9.6...

  21. Acid3 compliant? Nope. by sarabob · · Score: 2, Informative

    Long-time opera user here, and I feel it's falling behind rapidly. No ACID3, relatively slow javascript, other browsers catching up.

    When chrome gets fixed, safari gets inline search off the / key, FF stops being slow and/or any of them get the nifty right/left click gesture to go back I'll be switching.

    Although just typing /. in the address bar to go to slashdot may be the opera clincher :-)

    1. Re:Acid3 compliant? Nope. by Rui+del-Negro · · Score: 1

      [quote]Long-time opera user here, and I feel it's falling behind rapidly. No ACID3, relatively slow javascript, other browsers catching up.[/quote]

      You're kidding, right? Opera was the first browser to get 100/100 in ACID3 (unsurprisingly, BTW, since the ACID test is co-developed by some guys from Opera Software), one day before WebKit, and consistently wins JS benchmarks (only being narrowly beaten in some of them by FF3 - FF2 got hammered).

      And what sense does it make to say that it's "falling behind" while "other browsers are catching up"...? Falling behind what, exactly?

      What I want to know about the new version is: can we FINALLY delete a message attachment while keeping the actual message? To me, that (along with the mail search index becoming corrupted and requiring a rebuild every couple of months) is the main problem with M2. Also, it should allow index searches by partial words. Okay, I have three complaints. And I didn't expect the spanish inquisition.

    2. Re:Acid3 compliant? Nope. by Kelson · · Score: 2, Informative

      Long-time opera user here, and I feel it's falling behind rapidly. No ACID3, relatively slow javascript, other browsers catching up.

      It's an incremental release over 9.5. All the ACID3 stuff went on in the internal development builds (though you can download that one with the first ACID3 100/100 pass), which will most likely be Opera 10 -- and that's what should be compared to still-in-the-future releases like Firefox 3.1, Chrome 1.0, etc.

    3. Re:Acid3 compliant? Nope. by 99BottlesOfBeerInMyF · · Score: 1

      You're kidding, right? Opera was the first browser to get 100/100 in ACID3 (unsurprisingly, BTW, since the ACID test is co-developed by some guys from Opera Software), one day before WebKit [slashdot.org]...

      Actually, according to the writers of the test, no engine passed completely until September 25th, when Webkit managed to render the animation portion smoothly (it is still choppy in the latest dev versions of Opera).

      ...and consistently wins JS benchmarks (only being narrowly beaten in some of them by FF3 - FF2 got hammered).

      When the new version of Opera shipped (9.6) I ran it through the Sunspider javascript speed test. It scored about 6900 versus 6100 for the production version of Safari (3.1.2), so at least on OS X, Opera is significantly behind and that's even without the fancy new javascript engine in the dev versions of Webkit (which is way, way faster).

      And what sense does it make to say that it's "falling behind" while "other browsers are catching up"...? Falling behind what, exactly?

      I believe the intention is to state that Opera is losing ground to other browsers in the areas of performance, compliance, and features. Opera has some nice features that give it a leg up on other browsers, but other browsers are likewise gaining a leg up on Opera by adding new features of their own. For example, Opera provides nice rollover images of pages when a tab is hovered over, but Safari allows you to dynamically resize text boxes so you can see your whole Slashdot comment without scrolling. Which is better is a matter of preference, but it used to be that Opera had pretty much cloned all the neato features of other browsers, whereas lately they have not been able to keep up with the accelerated pace of development from other teams.

      Personally, I like Opera on Windows quite a bit and it may be my favorite browser on that platform... but I don't browse in Windows unless I need IE, and for other platforms, it is kind of slow and still has a lot gotchas where you realize they coded it for Windows and half-assed it when implementing on Linux and OS X. It's not nearly as bad as it was when Opera for OS X was years behind the Windows version, but it isn't good enough for most power users either.

    4. Re:Acid3 compliant? Nope. by sarabob · · Score: 1

      I have tried opera 9.6 on windows and osx. Both get 85/100 on acid3. They got 100/100 when there was a bug in the acid3 test which the webkit guys found, and only in an internal version, None of the released betas have ever got 100/100 AFAIK.

      It falls behind on svg performance (I like to make big auto-generated sequece diagrams etc), javascript performance, rendering speed, debugging tools (network graphs showing page load times, for example) and features (auto-completing google search)

      I have no idea how you can say that opera's JS performance is competitive vs ff3 or webkit nightlies - try running the benchmarks yourself rather than assuming.

      It's still my preferred browser on windows (as I say, probably until chrome is a bit more polished or someone implements that right/left gesture) but webkit nightlies are the browser of choice on a mac. And I'm finding myself using other browsers far more recently, which is a shame.

    5. Re:Acid3 compliant? Nope. by notrandomly · · Score: 1

      On Acid3, Opera is ahead of everyone except Safari nightlies (an experimental Opera build reaches 100/100). JavaScript isn't slow (look at these speed gains in 9.5 compared to older versions and other browsers), it just hasn't applied all the things to the JS engine that other browsers have (experimentally). So how you can conclude that Opera is falling behind is slightly strange.

    6. Re:Acid3 compliant? Nope. by notrandomly · · Score: 1

      Opera might not have compiled JavaScript, but I doubt that it falls behind the other browsers when it comes to SVG performance and rendering speed. If I am not mistaken, Opera currently has the most complete SVG implementation of any browser, and the performance has been shown to be excellent. Maybe there is a performance bug or two somewhere, but overall, it is definitely not slower at SVG and rendering.

    7. Re:Acid3 compliant? Nope. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Although just typing /. in the address bar to go to slashdot may be the opera clincher :-)

      You can do the same in Firefox and Chrome.

    8. Re:Acid3 compliant? Nope. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Long-time opera user here, and I feel it's falling behind rapidly. No ACID3, relatively slow javascript, other browsers catching up.

      It cannot be falling behind, if other browsers are catching up. At worst, its lead can be cut. This post has been brought to you by pedants anon.

  22. They don't have ads anymore by Luchio · · Score: 5, Informative

    They don't have ads anymore. They stopped using ads YEARS ago.

  23. firefox to opera switching by naz404 · · Score: 1

    In the same way, switching to Firefox from Opera feels really crippling as I've gotten so used to Opera's convenient mouse gestures. The feeling is like losing the mousewheel you've gotten so used to it.

    1. Re:firefox to opera switching by I(rispee_I(reme · · Score: 1

      Opera features that Firefox lacks can be added via extensions.

      Firefox features that Opera lacks can be pined for wistfully.

  24. 9.5 was poison. Is 9.6 better? by wintermute1974 · · Score: 1

    Opera 9.5 broke the "noko" feature in 4chan which forced me to revert to 9.27.

    Is noko fixed in Opera 9.6? Does anyone know?

  25. Why I use Opera: by __aailob1448 · · Score: 4, Informative

    Blazing-fast fullpage zoom: using the + and - keys makes Opera a delight to use for those of us browsing at high resolutions with websites designed for low resolutions. With 30" monitors like mine, it's an absolute must.

    note:Firefox 3.1 has a horribly slow full page zoom on my dual core 2.2 Ghz AMD.

    Instant page backtracking:. No re-rendering delay. (oh how I wish I could use Opera on my iPhone just because of that). The bonus is that any text typed by the user is also saved. A lifesaver for those of us who post on forums and hate to see their comments "eaten" by server and network errors.

    Snappiest interface of the bunch: It shows quickdial tabs faster than the firefox plugin. Closing tabs and opening new ones is faster. Scrolling is faster. The reduced input latency makes interacting with the browser more enjoyable. Chrome is second best in this regard.

    All of this makes up for the slightly higher incompatibility issues Opera deals with and the lack of addons (segmented downloading? Adblock? etc.). I can always fire up Chrome or Firefox if I need to.

    1. Re:Why I use Opera: by Hemogoblin · · Score: 1

      I don't think incompatability is really an issue anymore for basic webbrowsing. My personal experience is that 99% of the webpages that I regularly visit render perfectly in Opera. I love this browser.

  26. Wrong question by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    until a few weeks ago I never noticed it had a mail client.

    You don't seem to be a very observant person. Opera has had a mail client for at least 5 years.

    I never checked to see what other features the browser had [...] I'd run it long enough to see that menus, etc. rendered correctly and then shut it down and go right back to Firefox.

    I see, so you're not merely unobservant, you're also either lazy or stupid. You downloaded the browser, installed it, ran it, but couldn't even be bothered to see what features it had? Hint: all the features that Firefox and Safari will have one year later (and MSIE four years later). Guess who invented tabbed browsing, page zoom, instant history.back, the side panel, pop-up blocking, speed dial, site nicknames, inline search, multiple search engine access from the address line, mouse gestures, dynamic address completion, etc., etc., etc.

    I mean, really. With all the great open source mail clients out there, why would I need a mail client from Opera?

    The question should be the other way around: Why should you need to go looking for other e-mail clients when at least one browser (Opera) comes with an excellent built-in one?

  27. Re:woohoo! by Kelson · · Score: 4, Funny

    I might consider using it when they remove the ads.

    2005 called. It wants your comment back.

  28. Dear Elmer "FUD" - Opera has "widgets" addons! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Opera has "widgets" that function pretty much as FireFox .xpi addons do - so, please, cease the "F.U.D." there 'Elmer' (Fudd)

    1. Re:Dear Elmer "FUD" - Opera has "widgets" addons! by aussie_a · · Score: 1

      Got any examples of addons that replicate Firefox features?

      I can't actually think of any such features, but apparently they exist.

    2. Re:Dear Elmer "FUD" - Opera has "widgets" addons! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Most of what you need to get .xpi addons for, Opera already has (such as tabbed browsing, & FF's devs CLEARLY "bit that one off Opera's style", for 1 thing... Speed-Dial, another Opera innovation? An .xpi addon maker for FF built...)

      "Imitation IS the sincerest form of flattery"

      ----

      "Got any examples of addons that replicate Firefox features?" - by aussie_a (778472) on Wednesday October 08, @07:42PM (#25307309)

      You haven't been very specific yourself, mind you... thus, how can I be in reply?

      ----

      "I can't actually think of any such features, but apparently they exist." - by aussie_a (778472) on Wednesday October 08, @07:42PM (#25307309)

      Sure, this is possible... HOWEVER?? The fact Opera HAS the "widgets" extensions for it, means ANYTHING can be built for it (within reason, of course, & the same goes for FF's .xpi addons also).

    3. Re:Dear Elmer "FUD" - Opera has "widgets" addons! by I(rispee_I(reme · · Score: 1

      You haven't been very specific yourself, mind you... thus, how can I be in reply?

      Well, since the most-commonly mentioned extension seems to be Adblock Plus, how about a link to an Opera widget that replicates Adblock Plus's functionality? The ad-blocking feature included in Opera does not count, since, as has been mentioned many times already, it is inferior to Adblock Plus.

      Or, if the afore-mentioned widget doesn't exist, you could just post an apology and an admission that I'm right. Either way is fine. ;)

  29. Finally Sped Up by aussie_a · · Score: 1

    So I tried Opera a while back and the pages were noticeably slower to load then in Firefox. Having just tried it now, I can safely say that its finally a bit faster. I'll be happily switching and taking advantage of all of Opera's features that Firefox has yet to implement.

  30. Why pick one of the smallest platforms? by Rui+del-Negro · · Score: 3, Informative

    Actually, according to the writers of the test, no engine passed completely until September 25th, when Webkit managed to render the animation portion smoothly

    Opera's rendering engine (Presto/WinGogi) and WebKit (used in Chrome / Safari) both reached 100/100 on the 26th and 27th of March, respectively.

    Introducing "smoothness" requirements means a browser may pass or fail the test depending on what hardware it's running on (and the opinion of the person watching the test - smooth for you might not be smooth for me). IMO the point of the Acid test is to check standards-compliance, not performance. If a browser gets 100/100, it passed.

    And while both layout engines got the perfect score months ago, the current release version of Safari scores only 75/100, and Opera 9.60 scores only 85/100 (highest of any current non-beta browser, but still not 100).

    BTW, the Acid3 test has changed several times after bugs in the test itself were discovered, the latest one on September 29th, so maybe no engine will actually get 100/100 when it's fixed.

    it used to be that Opera had pretty much cloned all the neato features of other browsers

    In fact, they were so good at "cloning the neato features of other browsers" that they often cloned those features months (sometimes years) before the other browsers had them (in some cases, before those browsers even existed). :-)

    Personally, I like Opera on Windows quite a bit and it may be my favorite browser on that platform... but I don't browse in Windows [...] you realize they coded it for Windows

    If you're going to pick one platform to optimise (or if you're going to pick one platform to benchmark), it makes sense to pick the platform with 90% market share (Windows) over one that barely reaches 5% (OS X), no? Or test all platforms and then weigh the final scores based on each platform's share.

    1. Re:Why pick one of the smallest platforms? by 99BottlesOfBeerInMyF · · Score: 1

      Opera's rendering engine (Presto/WinGogi) and WebKit (used in Chrome / Safari) both reached 100/100 on the 26th and 27th of March, respectively.

      True, but that wasn't the original requirement, even if it is the most we home users can conveniently test.

      Introducing "smoothness" requirements means a browser may pass or fail the test depending on what hardware it's running on (and the opinion of the person watching the test - smooth for you might not be smooth for me). IMO the point of the Acid test is to check standards-compliance, not performance. If a browser gets 100/100, it passed.

      They supplied specified reference hardware and rates, so there is no ambiguity. You can define the test as it is acceptable to you, or course, I'm just pointing out why some people can reasonably disagree. Both engines are pretty good for compliance in any case.

      In fact, they were so good at "cloning the neato features of other browsers" that they often cloned those features months (sometimes years) before the other browsers had them (in some cases, before those browsers even existed). :-)

      You misunderstand. Opera has introduced many new features, and other browsers have been slow to copy them, but Opera has always been quick to clone any useful features from other browsers. Or they were quick to maintain feature parity until the last year or two when browser development has ramped up from multiple camps. This is how things have changed.

      If you're going to pick one platform to optimise (or if you're going to pick one platform to benchmark), it makes sense to pick the platform with 90% market share (Windows) over one that barely reaches 5% (OS X), no?

      No. I'm going to pick the most featureful and preferred platform for my own use. What platform you choose is up to you. There's no reason you can't optimize code for multiple platforms or at least use the native APIs for each platform. My point being, a quick test on the platform I prefer shows that Opera is not particularly fast compared to all the options out there. I mentioned Opera 9.6 comes in at about 6900 on my laptop. That compares to 900 on the same laptop with Webkit with the new Javascript engine and 3500 with Firefox's new javascript engine. Twice as slow as Firefox and seven times slower than Safari on OS X doesn't seem to me to indicate it "consistently wins JS benchmarks" as you originally stated. I'm not saying Opera is always that poor on all platforms. I just thought it was important to point out there is significant room for a different view.

      Or test all platforms and then weigh the final scores based on each platform's share.

      I've actually done that several times in the past and posted the results in these discussions. Opera has, in general, faired worse than average even when factoring in all platforms. This may be unfair to some degree because Opera failed to complete the Sunspider test for a good while and because I often compared nightly releases of Webkit and Gecko to beta versions of Opera (since Opera nightly releases are not available for download by the public). The last time I ran a full set of tests the Opera beta was about twice as slow as the betas of the others. Since then, Opera has sped up by about 25% while the others have improved a great deal more; on all platforms. I don't know where you're getting your javascript benchmarks, but Opera wasn't king a year ago and since then both Firefox and Webkit have pushed really hard to improve and make Web apps that rely upon javascript more viable. Opera has not pushed so hard and has fallen behind.

    2. Re:Why pick one of the smallest platforms? by Rui+del-Negro · · Score: 1

      Opera has introduced many new features, and other browsers have been slow to copy them, but Opera has always been quick to clone any useful features from other browsers.

      Such as...? The only major feature that I remember Opera introducing after other browsers was automated password management, and they took ages to add that.

      I'm going to pick the most featureful and preferred platform for my own use. [...] a quick test on the platform I prefer shows that Opera is not particularly fast

      When the platform you choose is the platform of choice for 5% of people (in the US - probably more like 3% worldwide), I really don't think your results can be taken to represent browser performance in general (as experienced by the majority of people).

      And are you really surprised that WebKit's internal benchmark (Sunspider) runs faster on WebKit-based browsers...?

    3. Re:Why pick one of the smallest platforms? by 99BottlesOfBeerInMyF · · Score: 1

      Such as...?

      Grammar checking, resizable text boxes, automatic language translation, fast and efficient javascript engine, just for starters.

      When the platform you choose is the platform of choice for 5% of people...

      That's not really pertinent since it is also slower on Linux and Windows, or was last time I tested it. The references I made to OS X were mostly with regard to problems with failing to properly code for that platform and take advantage of the ways it is superior to Windows.

      And are you really surprised that WebKit's internal benchmark (Sunspider) runs faster on WebKit-based browsers...?

      Gecko based browsers still run it twice as fast as Opera. Are they just biased against Opera in some unspecified way? You still haven't presented a javascript benchmark from which you formed you opinion that Opera is consistently faster. I haven't seen any and I did a little looking. The only benchmarks I've seen where Opera does well are several years old, long before the recent push for fast javascript to enable Web applications.

    4. Re:Why pick one of the smallest platforms? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Dude, Sunspider is a joke as a browser benchmark. It "tests the core JavaScript language only, not the DOM or other browser APIs" and yet claims to be a "Real World benchmark". Yeah, sure, because in the real world people use their browsers to run abstract code, not code that intreacts with web pages (i.e., DOM). Quoting (again) from the Sunspider site, the benchmark simulates "a 3D raytracer, cryptography tests, [and] code decompression". Yup, undoubtedly the kind of stuff people do every day with their browser.

      Reminds me of the esoteric benchmarks Apple used to pick to show their computers as "faster" before they swallowed their pride and went with Intel x86.

      Check out Celtic Kane's JS benchmarks (which is not developed by one of the parties being tested, unlike Sunspider). Opera's three-year-old JS engine beats every browser except the latest version of WebKit, and even there it loses only be a few miliseconds. It's still 50% faster than Gecko. Go back to late 2007 / early 2008 and Opera was 30% faster than WebKit and over 100% faster than Gecko.

      Look at the benchmark breakdown and you'll see that Opera actually wins 6 out of 9 benchmarks. It just doesn't get a higher final score because it's relatively slow at doing script and date operations. Opera wins the DOM and AJAX benchmarks, which are the ones most likely to have an impact on user experience. Safari is the worst of the bunch in the DOM test -- almost 5 times slower than Opera -- which I guess explains why WebKit's Sunspider benchmark leaves out any DOM interaction, eh?

    5. Re:Why pick one of the smallest platforms? by Rui+del-Negro · · Score: 1

      Grammar checking, resizable text boxes, automatic language translation, fast and efficient javascript engine, just for starters. [...] The references I made to OS X were mostly with regard to problems with failing to properly code for that platform and take advantage of the ways it is superior to Windows.

      Opera doesn't have any built-in spelling or grammar checking, so that hardly counts as a "feature copied from other browsers" (unless you mean they copied the absence of a built-in checker?). Under Windows / Linux, Opera uses GNU Aspell and, under OS X, it will use the operating system's checker. I guess that contradicts your theory that "Opera is not coded to take advantage of the features offered by OS X".

      Resizable text boxes are not defined by the current HTML / CSS standards. If and when resizability becomes a valid property of text boxes, recognised by the W3C, I'm sure Opera will implement it. Allowing the user to resize text boxes on pages that weren't coded to deal with that can seriously break their layout. If the web site creator wants the boxes to be resizable, right now, he or she can implement it with JavaScript (and this works fine in Opera). Opera also does not support some proprietary Mozilla CSS extensions, for example, but will support the "official" (W3C) equivalents.

      I'm not sure what you mean by "automatic language translation". If you're talking about Safari's Language Translator widget, that's a 3rd party plug-in and, in any case, Opera can do the same thing; you just need to select some text, right-click on it and select the language (no need to install 3rd party widgets or cut & paste the text). Opera has done this since before Safari even existed, so again I don't see how it can be considered a feature copied from another browser.

      Finally, I also don't see how "fast and efficient javascript engine" counts as a "feature copied from other browsers"; when the current Opera JS engine was released, it was 4 times faster than pretty much any other browser of the time (still is the fastest in most interactive operations, although string handling is a bit slow - possibly due to the extra privacy / security features in Opera). Personally I've never felt that Opera was "slow" at handling JS (can't say the same about Firefox 2. Firefox 3 is much better, but still not as responsive as Opera in several sites I visit).

      Gecko based browsers still run it twice as fast as Opera.

      Latest "non-partisan" benchmark I could find online at an English-language site (September 2008):

      http://celtickane.com/webdesign/jsspeedarchive.php

      Opera 9.5.2 runtime = 420
      Firefox 3.0.1 runtime = 538

      Firefox (Gecko) is 30% slower (or was, one month ago - that may have changed, but most people don't update their browser every day, so my original point stands).

      Sunspider is a "core" JavaScript benchmark that doesn't test any web page manipulation or interaction. That's fine if you're planning to code JavaScript applications, but won't tell you much about how well a browser handles JavaScript used in an interactive web page (which is what really matters to 99% of end users).

      BTW, if you look at the results of Google's V8 benchmark, Google Chrome is more than twice as fast as any other browser. And I bet Microsoft could come up with a benchmark where MSIE would be #1. That doesn't mean it'll translate into the real world.

  31. Re:woohoo! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Apparently you also couldn't wait to waste everybody's time with a totally pointless post on Slashdot.

    You must be new here.

    He flamed a pointless first post and was modded insightful. I'd say he's an old Slashdot pro. Since the response was an AC I'd say he is an Opera user who modded the OP flamebait, posted his response, and modded then it insightful.

  32. Have they ported to Qt4 yet? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    As a KDE user, I prefer Opera over Firefox, simply use to better resource useage, that being said, has Opera 9.6 started using Qt4 yet?

    1. Re:Have they ported to Qt4 yet? by Kelson · · Score: 1

      As a KDE user, I prefer Opera over Firefox, simply use to better resource useage, that being said, has Opera 9.6 started using Qt4 yet?

      Yes. The main download page, as far as I can tell, only offers the QT3 version, but you can download QT4 builds from the FTP server.

  33. widgets do not extend Opera functionality by JCholewa · · Score: 1

    Widgets don't actually modify the functionality of Opera. I would like to have a verticle tree-view mode for the tabs in Opera. I get this on Firefox via the "Tree Style Tab" extension, and it's amazing. It's the only reason I'm typing this on Firefox at the moment. In many, many ways, I still prefer Opera. Bit this particular feature is a dealmaker. Widgets can't provide this kind of functionality.