Is Facebook Going To Buy Opera?

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Is Facebook Going To Buy Opera?

Posted by timothy on Friday May 25, 2012 @10:50PM from the browser-wars-the-sequel dept.

New submitter x0d writes with this excerpt from the L.A. Times: "The Facebook spending spree may be continuing as a new report says the social networking giant might be looking to buy Norwegian company Opera Software. Now fully under the microscope of Wall Street as well as Main Street investors, Facebook is trying to solve its mobile monetizing problems and has been gobbling up various companies in recent months to increase its presence in the world of smartphones."

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Rockmelt by Anonymous Coward · 2012-05-25 22:54 · Score: 2

If they do, wont Opera be forgotten like Rockmelt is?
1. Re:Rockmelt by sammyF70 · 2012-05-25 22:55 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  wtf is rockmelt?
  
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2. Re:Rockmelt by inasity_rules · 2012-05-25 23:09 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  I hope not. I actually like Opera.
  
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  I have determined that my sig is indeterminate.
3. Re:Rockmelt by gl4ss · 2012-05-25 23:24 · Score: 2
  
  it's a WOWser.
  no, I didn't make that up myself.
  as to the facebook acquisition.. it would be probably for the development talent, basically just one big recruitment of mobile, javascript, cloud and html knowhow.
  
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4. Re:Rockmelt by lightknight · 2012-05-25 23:26 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  Indeed. This is a Merger / Acquisition that, from a quality of life standpoint, I do not prefer to see.
  Opera Mobile is...a very nice browser on my Droid. A very, very nice browser. I'd like to keep it that way (the thought of Facebook posting to my wall with updates based off of my latest webpage viewings is more than a little disturbing; "lightknight said he would be at Ken's BBQ by 5:00PM, but we can see that he accessed Google Maps 21 minutes ago, and his GPS / location shows him at least 47 minutes away. -> 5:01 PM").
  
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5. Re:Rockmelt by mwvdlee · 2012-05-25 23:36 · Score: 2
  
  It looks like Chrome minus everything that makes Chrome so popular.
  
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6. Re:Rockmelt by mateuscb · 2012-05-26 00:15 · Score: 2
  
  Thats because Rockmet uses Chromium. They simply added a couple of "plug-ins" to allow facebook, twitter integration. Best part, they managed to get $40 million in investment. Go figure. http://techcrunch.com/2011/12/19/rockmelt-vs-chrome/. As far as data collection, a small start-up, entering a cut-throat browser market, with facebook and twitter logins isn't going to collect anything?
7. Re:Rockmelt by 1u3hr · 2012-05-26 00:53 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  Damn. I've been using Opera for several years now. If it comes under the thumb of Facebook, I'll jump ship. I don't want those fuckers backdooring themselves into everything I do online.
8. Re:Rockmelt by Anonymous Coward · 2012-05-26 01:07 · Score: 1
  
  If you use Chrome on your desktop AND you have Android 4.0+ on your phone, then use Chrome for Android. It's really nice.
  If you use Firefox on your desktop OR do NOT have Android 4.0+ on your phone, then use Firefox Beta on Android. It's also really nice.
  The reason I recommend using the same browser on both desktop and phone is because of each browser's syncing capabilities. If you've never set that up, now's a good time to. It's really nice to be able to e.g. access/modify your bookmarks from any device and access tabs on your desktop (for example) from your phone and vice versa.
9. Re:Rockmelt by buddhaunderthetree · 2012-05-26 01:46 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  You like Opera? I love Opera. I've been using Opera since way back at version 2.0. Remember the browser that would fit on a floppy? I even paid for it. Sure, it's not perfect but it's pretty darn good. Now it's endanger of being taken over by a company I personally don't use and can't stand. I would have rather seen it die back in the 90s than to me such an ignominious fate.
  
  --
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10. Re:Rockmelt by beachcoder · 2012-05-26 01:48 · Score: 1
  
  Agreed. And without an alternative browser I want to use, I may just have to leave the Internet. Time to buy that yacht :)
11. Re:Rockmelt by Anonymous Coward · 2012-05-26 02:05 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  Don't worry, if Opera does get acquired by a huge corporation with a strong interest in gathering as much information as possible about you, you can always just switch to Chrome!
12. Re:Rockmelt by moronoxyd · 2012-05-26 02:11 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  Opera browsers already have a filtering mechanism build in. What they are missing is a list of stuff to filter.
  Just search the web for an urlfilter.ini, download that, put it on your Android device and point Opera Mobile to it.
13. Re:Rockmelt by vakuona · 2012-05-26 02:37 · Score: 1
  
  Why not just headhunt them?
14. Re:Rockmelt by kyrio · 2012-05-26 02:58 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  I'll go back to IE.
15. Re:Rockmelt by PenquinCoder · 2012-05-26 04:12 · Score: 1
  
  I'll go back to IE.
  Now now, you don't have to be THAT Desperate. Hell, that's like saying you're hungry enough to eat Arby's. Time for an intervention!!
16. Re:Rockmelt by NeutronCowboy · 2012-05-26 04:20 · Score: 1
  
  Dolphin is a very nice browser. No adblock though.
  
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17. Re:Rockmelt by bryan1945 · 2012-05-26 05:06 · Score: 2
  
  Hey now, I like Arby's roast beef-like meat-product sandwich!
  
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18. Re:Rockmelt by LordLimecat · 2012-05-26 05:11 · Score: 2
  
  You realize that Firefox and IE both do the very same "info leaking" that chrome does when you type into the search box with suggestions, right?
19. Re:Rockmelt by Ubi_NL · 2012-05-26 05:15 · Score: 2
  
  well said. The day that opera falls in the greasy hands of facebook is a very sad day indeed.
  
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  If an experiment works, something has gone wrong.
20. Re:Rockmelt by G3ckoG33k · 2012-05-26 05:20 · Score: 1
  
  "Dolphin is a very nice browser. No adblock though."
  What file browser would need an adblock?
21. Re:Rockmelt by ThatsMyNick · 2012-05-26 05:46 · Score: 2
  
  Because it very close to impossible to hire complete teams. Very often you end up only hiring employees that are not satisfied with their job (while you would more interested in ones that really enjoy their job (& do it well)). If you make an offer_that_cannot_be_refused to every member in the team, you would demorolizing you own employees, set false expectations to pretty much everyone. The whole thing ends up pretty ugly.
22. Re:Rockmelt by ThatsMyNick · 2012-05-26 05:49 · Score: 1
  
  But Firefox and IE have an address bar apart from the search box. Chrome/Chromium does not have one.
23. Re:Rockmelt by kermidge · 2012-05-26 05:50 · Score: 1
  
  While Opera might like the money, I hope they can resist. It's been my main browser since Deepnet Explorer back around '04 (even though I usually set Firefox as default.) There are plugins for Ghostery, Convergence, and Lastpass.
24. Re:Rockmelt by spire3661 · 2012-05-26 06:09 · Score: 1
  
  And most likely your ISP monitors that and injects ads when you type a bad URL in. There is no escape from being data collected, you can only try to limit exposure.
  
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25. Re:Rockmelt by ThatsMyNick · 2012-05-26 06:17 · Score: 1
  
  How often do you type bad urls? Anyways my ISP does not spoof DNS, or some how redirect bad urls. I use SSL for the majority of my traffic, and my ISP cannot really track which the URL I visit.
26. Re:Rockmelt by Anonymous Coward · 2012-05-26 07:02 · Score: 3, Interesting
  
  Yes, Opera may be closed-source. But they deserve huge respect.
  They invented tons of things we take for granted nowadays. Tabs, proper zooming, user scripts/styles, separate search field, mouse guestures (incl. rocker), pop-up blocking, privacy mode, built-in bittorrent client, you name it. And they haven’t stopped. I consider Unite a key feature that will become essential.
  They also saved us from having to use IE6 in the dark ages after Netscape was murdered.
  And it was the fastest browser for a loooong time. (Basically from the start up until Chrome forced Firefox to become faster.)
  And Oprea Mobile is the rare case of a mobile browser that doesn’t suck.
  If they had offered a Firefox-like Add-on system and done a similar marketing (think: Firefox logo), they would be the most popular browser instead today.
27. Re:Rockmelt by inasity_rules · 2012-05-26 07:07 · Score: 2
  
  This. Also, I ran huge volumes of pages through opera turbo. It was invaluable back when I lived in a country with expensive and slow internet. I did use it back when it was add supported a lot too, and would have paid if I could have. Opera is probably the best browser I have ever used. I like the interface and I like the way everything works. I would very much regret it's death or mismanagement by some overrated social networking site.
  
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28. Re:Rockmelt by hairyfeet · 2012-05-26 09:48 · Score: 1
  
  Funnily enough looking at the pictures of Rockmelt (who thinks up these shit names anyway?) it reminded me of Expressgate which is built around tons of social crap, maybe FB should buy something like that and have their own FB OS? That would probably scare the hell out of Google.
  Man I'd hate to see Opera go though because with Presto being proprietary you couldn't even fork it like with Gecko or Webkit. While I never could stand the Opera UI my oldest boy has been using it since it was a for pay browser and knowing him he would sandbox and run the last version rather than give up his opera or deal with it FBed all to hell. He swears it loads pages faster than anything else and by hacking the UA he even does his online courses in it.
  Personally i'd just hate to see the loss in competition as opera is one of the few mobile browsers that will damned near run anywhere and AFAIK they don't do all the tracking crap like Chrome does. So if FB does buy Opera let us hope they open the source so that if all they want is the devs then the community could keep it running, cause it would be sad to see it go the way of Netscape.
  
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29. Re:Rockmelt by DMUTPeregrine · 2012-05-26 10:42 · Score: 1
  
  Dolphin is both a Linux file browser and an Android web browser. The two projects are unrelated, save for both being named after the same marine mammal.
  
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30. Re:Rockmelt by drkstr1 · 2012-05-26 11:00 · Score: 1
  
  I tried chrome on my Asus Transformer, but it seems to grind to a hault on a lot of the sites I use, just as bad as the stock Browser. So far, Dolphin HD is the only browser I've used on Android that doesn't totally suck when playing a form based BBG game (VIrtonomics in my case). However, it also seems to have a problem with frequent crashes (which I suppose is better than a consistent unusability). There are many things I hate about my iPad (in fact, pretty much everything), but at least the browser doesn't suck. Here's hoping Google fixes this in the final release version of Chrome. Hell, I would even pay for a good browser on Android, because the current selection SUCKS! (and this is coming from an Android fanboy)
  
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31. Re:Rockmelt by Gim+Tom · 2012-05-26 11:18 · Score: 1
  
  Well Said! I couldn't agree more. I do use Firefox (pre vs 12) for casual browsing, but for more important things I do use Opera. Much better security settings and not as big a target.
32. Re:Rockmelt by shutdown+-p+now · 2012-05-26 12:19 · Score: 1
  
  I used to like Opera, but it's slowly falling by the wayside now that the big guys are heavily investing into their browsers. They were ahead of the pack by pretty much all measures back when the only two competitors were the stagnating IE, and bloated Mozilla/Firefox. These days Firefox is much leaner, and of course there's also Chrome.
  Opera still wins by the sheer amount of features that it comes with out of the box, but even then it's getting dangerously close. It hasn't been the fastest browser on the market for years, neither by rendering speed nor by UI. But two things hit it worst: first, it's been much less stable since version 10 or thereabouts - frequent crashes etc. Second, it's starting to lag behind on HTML5 support, and generally speaking it seems to have more things broken than anyone else other than IE - and people know of IE and adapt to it, whereas for Opera no-one is willing to make such concessions.
33. Re:Rockmelt by JavaLord · 2012-05-26 15:13 · Score: 1
  
  Given the rate of decline in Facebook stock Opera might just wait a few weeks and buy facebook.
34. Re:Rockmelt by Fjandr · 2012-05-26 15:31 · Score: 1
  
  This is what I came here to post. My first though upon reading the headline was "Oh please God no!"
  I don't want my favorite browser frozen in time as Facebook oozes all over it, defiling as they go. I'd rather stab myself in the eye than take the time to hack Firefox into a Frankenstein's Monster version, Chrome doesn't have the features I use (even as an extension), and IE isn't even playing the same game.
35. Re:Rockmelt by sir-gold · 2012-05-26 16:33 · Score: 1
  
  You mean Chrome looks like Opera plus google integration?
  Every browser on the market today is an Opera ripoff, Opera was doing tabbed browsing for years before the open mozilla project, way before firefox and chrome came out.
36. Re:Rockmelt by LordLimecat · 2012-05-26 17:15 · Score: 1
  
  Then uncheck the checkbox that does autosuggest. Its not that hard to find.
37. Re:Rockmelt by ThatsMyNick · 2012-05-26 17:27 · Score: 1
  
  The point was I can use autosuggest when I want to in firefox. When searching for something, I do like autosuggest (hell Google will get the complete search string anyway, why I should I not like autocomplete). But for everything else I prefer not sending google my keystrokes.
38. Re:Rockmelt by interkin3tic · 2012-05-26 17:49 · Score: 1
  
  Every feature I've grown to love in opera has been an add on in firefox. It's not the same and feels wrong, but it's there. Conversely, there is nothing analagous to noscript last time I checked, and random web pages don't work in opera that work in firefox. The latter is probably something I could fix if I felt so inclined, but I don't. Being able to easily enable specific javascripts while disabling them by default however, how on earth hasn't that been an option for opera already? They do everything else so smoothly.
39. Re:Rockmelt by shutdown+-p+now · 2012-05-26 18:29 · Score: 2, Interesting
  
  Frequent crashes? etc? I suggest there's something wrong with your system. Other than crashes in snapshots, the released versions have always been solid.
  Just because it doesn't crash for you doesn't mean that it's "solid". One not so nice thing about Opera lately is that it 1) likes to crash if you have profiles and other user data left over from a past version (their tech support always recommends wiping all your settings whenever you upgrade - WTF?); and 2) it likes to crash on certain specific websites due to bugs in their renderer or JS engine - so you won't see those crashes unless you frequent those sites.
  
  You're pretty much talking out of your ass.
  Because my observations do not agree with your preconceptions?
  I was using Opera as my primary browser since 5.x times, so, no, I'm not talking out of my ass. I wish I could keep using it, but as it is, I have reluctantly moved on to Chrome because I couldn't keep pretending that Opera is still the best choice.
40. Re:Rockmelt by mwvdlee · 2012-05-26 18:36 · Score: 1
  
  Yeah, but Opera is basically Netscape with tabs. ;)
  
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41. Re:Rockmelt by cbhacking · 2012-05-26 19:34 · Score: 1
  
  Not sure if serious...
  Dolphin is a browser app for Android. It's probably newer than the KDE filesystem browser of the same name, but it's also probably used by more people...
  
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42. Re:Rockmelt by sergiol · 2012-05-26 21:56 · Score: 1
  
  What? I always hated Netscape and loved Opera.
  And you're not an Opera user, for sure.
43. Re:Rockmelt by JohhnyTHM · 2012-05-27 01:28 · Score: 1
  
  The only time Opera has ever crashed for me is when there is a dodgy ad on a site. Blocking the ad fixes it straight away.
44. Re:Rockmelt by skipdallas · 2012-05-27 04:51 · Score: 1
  
  I too like Opera. And I hate Facebook for the privacy issues that will never go away. If Facebook buys Opera, and links it to Facebook and reports all my browsing habits, sadly I will have to use another browser. Facebook is becoming the Internet's "Mark-of-the-Beast" a ubiquitous presence that I can do without.
45. Re:Rockmelt by hkmwbz · 2012-05-29 16:42 · Score: 1
  
  If they had offered a Firefox-like Add-on system and done a similar marketing (think: Firefox logo), they would be the most popular browser instead today.
  The marketing Firefox got was, among other things, Google paying webmasters to distribute it. So basically, Google helped make Firefox big. Not the logo.
  
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Nice one by MichaelSmith · 2012-05-25 22:55 · Score: 5, Interesting

The opera mobile browser works by offloading a lot of work to a server run by opera. This would give facebook access to everything which goes through every mobile opera browser.

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1. Re:Nice one by Anonymous Coward · 2012-05-25 22:57 · Score: 4, Interesting
  
  Only if you turn on Turbo mode. It's off by default.
  But yes it would suck ass if Facebook bought Opera. Opera Mobile is the first thing I install on any smartphone. The desktop version of Opera sucks but the Mobile version is the best browser for any mobile device.
2. Re:Nice one by Anonymous Coward · 2012-05-25 22:59 · Score: 1
  
  That's only Opera Mini, not Opera Mobile
3. Re:Nice one by Anonymous Coward · 2012-05-25 23:05 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  And that will be the day I will stop using Opera, Desktop and mobile.
  Idem. These kinds of occasions underline why it is so important going open source for long term survival.
  I love Opera, have being used it since version 7. Its a full featured browser, infintely configurable and really multiplatform.
  The day Facebook buys Opera is the last day I use Opera, on smartphones and the desktop. And I will go reluctently to Firefox. But it will be a big regression in terms of configurability and stability.
4. Re:Nice one by Anonymous Coward · 2012-05-25 23:07 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  Opera Mobile Mini has this option turned on by default, with no option in the GUI to turn it off. I guess if you knew where to look through the files you could turn it off via a configuration file.
5. Re:Nice one by hairyfeet · 2012-05-25 23:12 · Score: 5, Informative
  
  You got it back asswards friend, Opera MINI does the whole "go through Opera servers" thing whereas opera MOBILE only does so if you activate turbo.
  
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6. Re:Nice one by MichaelSmith · 2012-05-25 23:26 · Score: 1
  
  But either way its a great way to collect data. Google must be kicking themselves.
  
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7. Re:Nice one by Lennie · 2012-05-25 23:31 · Score: 5, Informative
  
  Actually you can't turn it off, because Opera Mini isn't a real browser, that is the whole point of Opera Mini. It is just a client which displays what the Opera server prerendered.
  
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8. Re:Nice one by Anonymous Coward · 2012-05-25 23:35 · Score: 2, Insightful
  
  Why? Google is already doing it with Android and Chrome.
9. Re:Nice one by macron1 · 2012-05-26 00:18 · Score: 1, Troll
  
  oooo imagine it, access to literally dozens of Opera users browsing data...
10. Re:Nice one by WrongSizeGlass · 2012-05-26 00:21 · Score: 1
  
  Why? Google is already doing it with Android and Chrome.
  And every link you click on from Google search, Google news, Google images, etc.
11. Re:Nice one by craigminah · 2012-05-26 00:22 · Score: 2
  
  Yup. Opera is my fave browser on my iPod Touch but it's not quite there for desktop use. So close to being me default desktop browser but it's missing some features and a little quirky but it's got HW acceleration across all platforms and plugin support (just no XMarks, FlashGot, or 1PassWord support). I always check out each new version of Opera only to uninstall it a few days later. If Facebook buys Opera I won't have to check out Opera anymore...
12. Re:Nice one by jc42 · 2012-05-26 01:27 · Score: 1
  
  The opera mobile browser works by offloading a lot of work to a server run by opera. This would give facebook access to everything which goes through every mobile opera browser.
  As far as I've been able to determine, this includes setting up https links. So we're talking about facebook getting a copy of all your login credentials, and you bank-account info if you use your phone for any financial purposes.
  If this isn't true (i.e., the encryption is done in the phone with the ids and passwords not available to the Opera servers), it'd be interesting reading about how we'd verify it. Otherwise, we should assume that logins and passwords are known to the browser's owners. Opera seems to have a very good reputation about such things, but how far do you trust facebook?
  
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13. Re:Nice one by moronoxyd · 2012-05-26 02:12 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  There is no 'Opera Mobile Mini'.
  Opera Mobile and Opera Mini are two distinctive products.
14. Re:Nice one by del_diablo · 2012-05-26 02:43 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  Which is also why its allowed into Apples App Store, because it does under no circumstances execute any script by itself, its just streaming it.
15. Re:Nice one by Nerdfest · 2012-05-26 02:46 · Score: 1
  
  Android no, Chrome, maybe.
16. Re:Nice one by Truekaiser · 2012-05-26 03:25 · Score: 1
  
  google only collects what is typed or searched for in the omnibox, nothing else.
  but don't let facts get in the way of your idea of the google eye looking at everything on your computer including your porn collection.
17. Re:Nice one by oakgrove · 2012-05-26 04:04 · Score: 1
  
  From the Opera Mini FAQ:
  
  Is there any end-to-end security between my handset and - for example - paypal.com or my bank? Opera Mini uses a transcoder server to translate HTML/CSS/JavaScript into a more compact format. It will also shrink any images to fit the screen of your handset. This translation step makes Opera Mini fast, small, and also very cheap to use. To be able to do this translation, the Opera Mini server needs to have access to the unencrypted version of the webpage. Therefore no end-to-end encryption between the client and the remote web server is possible.
  If you need full end-to-end encryption, you should use a full web browser such as Opera Mobile.
  So according to Opera, end to end encryption is "impossible" with Opera Mini and if you want it, use something else.
  
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18. Re:Nice one by hairyfeet · 2012-05-26 08:50 · Score: 1
  
  Sorry friend but as the wiki states "randomly generated token (unique ID), RLZ Identifier, Client ID, Suggest, page not found,bug tracker, Google Updater, and downloads" the info is here and as someone who didn't know they did THAT much tracking it just makes me feel even better than I'm using Dragon, which has all that crap stripped out.
  
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19. Re:Nice one by AmberBlackCat · 2012-05-26 13:09 · Score: 1
  
  Only if you turn on Turbo mode. It's off by default.
  So it would only be a problem if Facebook were the type to change your privacy settings against your will without telling you???
20. Re:Nice one by Fjandr · 2012-05-26 15:41 · Score: 1
  
  It must make large calculations difficult to only be able to count in units of 12. I wonder how many dozens equal the 22% of the global mobile browser market held by Opera...
Bad decision by Centurix · 2012-05-25 22:56 · Score: 4, Funny

I'm sure they could have picked up Internet Explorer for a steal. Imagine the positive effect on the stock price!

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only if ... by Chrisq · 2012-05-25 22:56 · Score: 1

It "turns out" that they have already independently developed their own browser.
And in other news... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-05-25 22:58 · Score: 5, Funny

Facebook to buy Western Digital. Because they're going to need all those drives to store EVERY. FUCKING. KEYSTROKE.
Warning to Fastmail users by Anonymous Coward · 2012-05-25 22:59 · Score: 5, Interesting

Opera owns Fastmail. Do you want Facebook to own your email?
1. Re:Warning to Fastmail users by dwater · 2012-05-26 00:09 · Score: 2
  
  right. i love fastmail, and can't see it'll survive facebook ownership :/
  
  --
  Max.
2. Re:Warning to Fastmail users by Anonymous Coward · 2012-05-26 00:32 · Score: 3, Interesting
  
  As a paying member of Fastmail.fm, I'll be the first to cancel if Facebook takes ownership.
3. Re:Warning to Fastmail users by silenc3r · 2012-05-26 01:14 · Score: 2
  
  This better not be true. I have switched to Fastmail about a year ago and I find it superior to Gmail in almost every point, especially privacy which was the main reason to switch for me.
4. Re:Warning to Fastmail users by utkonos · 2012-05-26 05:01 · Score: 1
  
  I hadn't heard of Fastmail before, but I just visited the site. I wonder what Facebook will do with redundant systems? For example, they already have their own XMPP IM system. If what they did with Instagram is any indication, perhaps they themselves have no idea what to do with companies they slurp up.
I hope not by alphabetsoup · 2012-05-25 23:03 · Score: 4, Interesting

Opera is the best browser out there. I don't trust Chrome not to report data about me to Google, and if Facebook buys Opera I wouldn't trust it not to report my browsing data to Facebook. I will have to move back to the mess that is Firefox
1. Re:I hope not by Anonymous Coward · 2012-05-26 00:08 · Score: 1
  
  Tried Chromium, the browser that Google-Chrome is built on?
2. Re:I hope not by cparker15 · 2012-05-26 00:44 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  In Preferences, on the General tab, check the box to prevent tabs from loading until they're activated. Almost makes Firefox feel like a lightweight browser.
  Also, this add-on helps mitigate Firefox's chronic memory leak problem: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/memory-restart/
  
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3. Re:I hope not by __aaltlg1547 · 2012-05-26 01:12 · Score: 1
  
  I hope Facebook does not buy Opera. If they're interested in buying Opera, I hope the courts prevents it.
  Unless their intention is to open source it.
  Just like they open-sourced the rest of their code???
4. Re:I hope not by cpghost · 2012-05-26 01:55 · Score: 1
  
  Since you don't have the source code to Opera, what makes you think Opera isn't also reporting browsing data, just like Chrome allegedly does?
  
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5. Re:I hope not by bill_mcgonigle · 2012-05-26 02:15 · Score: 1
  
  Better throw some more memory in your machine. I hear Firefox has a voracious appetite, even today.
  It would be great if Firefox had a bigger leak management team, but I try not to spend too much time on $15 problems.
  
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6. Re:I hope not by DogDude · 2012-05-26 02:38 · Score: 1
  
  An add on to help a memory leak problem? Sweet Jesus, that browser's such a mess. I don't understand why anybody uses it.
  
  --
  I don't respond to AC's.
7. Re:I hope not by SuperCharlie · 2012-05-26 03:35 · Score: 1
  
  A few months ago I was looking for a browser that wouldnt be a Google/MS report factory. I thought it was Opera too... but if you look at help, about Opera.. you will see this..
  
  The WebP image decoder is covered by the following license:
  Copyright (c) 2010, Google Inc. All rights reserved.
  
  The libvpx video decoding library in Opera is covered by the following license:
  Copyright © 2010, Google Inc. All rights reserved.
  
  After I saw that I just gave up and decided that there wasnt really a way to not be part of the collective reporting mechanism.
8. Re:I hope not by amicusNYCL · 2012-05-26 06:25 · Score: 1
  
  I don't get it, the Firefox team is going to spend $15 on each user to buy them 2GB of extra RAM so that they can run Firefox? Or are you suggesting that Firefox is disowning their memory leak problem and making it the users' problem?
  
  --
  "Our two-party system is like a bowl of shit looking at itself in a mirror." - Lewis Black
9. Re:I hope not by amicusNYCL · 2012-05-26 06:27 · Score: 2, Insightful
  
  Since you don't have the source code to Opera, what makes you think Opera isn't also reporting browsing data, just like Chrome allegedly does?
  Just off the top of my head, one reason would be because Opera isn't built and owned by one of the world's largest data collection and mining companies.
  
  --
  "Our two-party system is like a bowl of shit looking at itself in a mirror." - Lewis Black
10. Re:I hope not by rssrss · 2012-05-26 08:32 · Score: 1
  
  I think you mean Options which is in the tools menu.
  
  --
  In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.
11. Re:I hope not by hairyfeet · 2012-05-26 10:38 · Score: 1
  
  Wow just....wow. For every one that says FF isn't a memory piggie all they have to do is look at that. There is over 23,000 users running an extension that dumps the browser and restarts so they can get the memory back...wow. BTW for all those FF users may i make a suggestion? Try Pale Moon as I've found that it doesn't seem to be QUITE as big a piggie and as a bonus it is compiled with the later SSE flags so it is snappier and as a BIG bonus they have forked away from FF because they have NO intention of going with the Metro UI look that FF is gonna be switching to. so for those that like the current look and just want it faster and less piggie, give pale moon a try.
  As for TFA man i'd hate to see it go but sadly this is a problem with a browser being proprietary. with FF and Chromium if you don't like where a company is headed there is usually a fork because many feel the same way as you do, but with opera and presto there isn't a damned thing you can do but just stick with the old version. I know that is what my oldest boy will do rather than give up his opera but that isn't really the best move security wise, but with a locked down browser that is pretty much the only choice you have if you want to stick with it. maybe someone will cook up a Chromium version with the Opera UI?
  
  --
  ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
12. Re:I hope not by Anonymous Coward · 2012-05-26 11:04 · Score: 1
  
  so you saw that Opera is using image and video decoding libraries from Google and automatically assumed that those libraries will invade your privacy?
  If that's the case, stay indoors, disconnect any services you have and don't communicate with anyone.
13. Re:I hope not by smellotron · 2012-05-26 14:52 · Score: 1
  
  Since you don't have the source code to Opera, what makes you think Opera isn't also reporting browsing data, just like Chrome allegedly does?
  
  You don't need the source to trace system calls and network packets. Even if Opera were to phone home using some nefarious mechanism that fell through the cracks of strace and ltrace, it would still be detectable by a packet sniffer. Much like the "many eyes" hypothesis works to give people confidence on source code access, it should also apply here. If a bored nerd discovered something like this on the weekend, news would spread across tech sites like wildfire.
14. Re:I hope not by RodBee · 2012-05-26 15:25 · Score: 1
  
  You know that Opera Mini actually tells you this, and his own FAQ tells you to get another browser if you need to encrypt your data, right?
15. Re:I hope not by Fjandr · 2012-05-26 15:47 · Score: 1
  
  You can also turn off the behavior. It's to make a fully-featured web browser functional on substandard hardware and substandard data networks. If your hardware only runs Mini but is on a fast connection, simply turn off remote rendering.
16. Re:I hope not by Waccoon · 2012-05-26 17:28 · Score: 1
  
  Among normal people, I can't answer that.
  Among web developers, Firefox still has the best tools available, and Mozilla still has not yet reached the phase where, "We've completely removed all the options and geeky stuff so you don't get scardy-poo!" Of course, they are moving in that direction, so there's no telling how much longer Firefox will be a viable development platform. *Sigh*
17. Re:I hope not by richard.york · 2012-05-26 19:04 · Score: 1
  
  Facebook has open sourced quite a few things. http://developers.facebook.com/opensource/ Looking at this from Facebook's point-of-view, I think they see having their own browser as being absolutely essential to their future. There's so many things they could bring to the table in terms of user experience if only they had their own platform. Nerds see the privacy conundrum very clearly, the average person on the other hand, could give a shit. They've probably looked at Webkit, and see that working on a browser engine with their arch enemy as totally unworkable. That arch enemy being Google, not Apple. Google is, of course, a big contributor to Webkit. No one seems to take Gecko seriously. Apple passed on Gecko. Google passed on gecko. Buying Opera makes perfect sense to me. I've never cared for it personally, so I don't have a dog in this fight. As to whether or not they open source it, they have open sourced things in the past. As for Opera I can see a lot of reasons for them to open source the engine, and I can see a lot of reasons why they wouldn't open source the engine. If they open source, they win points with geeks, what was Opera can be forked and continue on. They get free improvements via community involvement in the project. And they can keep proprietary bits proprietary. On the other hand, it's already closed source, and it would be easy for them to keep it that way. Easy for them to keep their work under wraps from the likes of Google. I wouldn't be surprised at all if they're also working on their own web search.
18. Re:I hope not by allo · 2012-05-26 22:01 · Score: 1
  
  thats the way i do it, too. But the default is to have a close button, so i mentioned it that way. anyway ... the "load only on click" option is nice to have a fast starting firefox, when you leave your tabs opened, but while normal browsing i just close the unneeded tabs, thats my point.
19. Re:I hope not by partyguerrilla · 2012-05-27 05:48 · Score: 1
  
  This is trivial to disprove with a packet sniffer. You don't need to look at the source code to monitor network traffic.
20. Re:I hope not by cpghost · 2012-05-27 08:11 · Score: 1
  
  Do you run a packet sniffer ALL the time? I could easily imagine a program that collects data, and then sends a burst every month or so to some server. Unless you're very lucky to run AND watch the sniffer at that very moment, you're likely to miss that burst.
  
  --
  cpghost at Cordula's Web.
Opera & P2P by sonamchauhan · 2012-05-25 23:05 · Score: 2

Hmmm .... Opera optionally bundles a web server (Opera Unite) with its browser. With music, photo and note sharing, I always thought that was Opera's attempt to be a P2P version of Facebook.
Who knows, Facebook may end up becoming more P2P-ish, a la Skype -- a centralised set of 'supernodes' that track who's talking/streaming photos/video/comments to whom (and keeps a copy), but without the infrastructure and delays their current 'hub and spoke' model requires.
1. Re:Opera & P2P by SJHillman · 2012-05-25 23:22 · Score: 1, Interesting
  
  The difference between Unite and Facebook, other than privacy, is that Unite is useful.
2. Re:Opera & P2P by netsharc · 2012-05-26 00:57 · Score: 1
  
  Except that if you're serving content using a standard home connection, the upload bandwidth is a fraction of download bandwidth, and those pics will take forever to load compared to pics served by Facebook...
  
  --
  What time is it/will be over there? Check with my iPhone app!
3. Re:Opera & P2P by Sentir101 · 2012-05-26 01:07 · Score: 2
  
  Hmmm .... Opera optionally bundles a web server (Opera Unite) with its browser.
  Support for Unite is actually dropped and it will be removed before the end of this year. I have no idea if similar things are (or will be) possible with their extension platform though.
  Source
  
  If Facebook buys Opera I will definitely switch to another browser, mobile browser and e-mail client...
4. Re:Opera & P2P by Hentes · 2012-05-26 01:32 · Score: 1
  
  It would be useful if there was anyone on it.
5. Re:Opera & P2P by dingen · 2012-05-26 02:38 · Score: 1
  
  That problem will solve itself in time.
  
  --
  Pretty good is actually pretty bad.
If you bought Facebook stock, this is on you! by Anonymous Coward · 2012-05-25 23:05 · Score: 2

That's why you don't give these fuckers money. They're going to ruin it for everyone, not just for the idiots who sign up for their walled garden.
I sure hope this doesn't happen... by xeriouxi · 2012-05-25 23:07 · Score: 2

I can't stand Facebook and refuse to have an account with the service, despite the continuing trend of many companies requiring an account for one thing or another, but if they were to buy Opera then that would mean they also acquire FastMail; my current email service. Over my dead body would I entrust my emails to Zuckerburg and his company.
1. Re:I sure hope this doesn't happen... by gmdiesel · 2012-05-25 23:20 · Score: 1
  
  Oh the irony. The little browser I loved, supported for years, version after version, then ultimately gave up on after tiring of all the sites that wouldn't work with it (surrendering to Firefox, which for some odd reason got the user base in months that Opera couldn't get in years), gets bought by a service I cannot stand. Hell, Opera might as well be bought my the Redmond Beast.
  
  --
  A cynic is a man who, when he smells flowers, looks around for a coffin. -H. L. Mencken
2. Re:I sure hope this doesn't happen... by SJHillman · 2012-05-25 23:24 · Score: 2
  
  Yeah, that got fixed a while ago when websites started complying with standards. Now Opera works with pretty much every site except those few that detect which browser you're using and tell you to go use IE/Fx/Chrome/Safari. Of course, it's only about two clicks to get around it.
Re:No! by Anonymous Coward · 2012-05-25 23:15 · Score: 1

Parent links to what looks like a scam warning but is actually an ad for another virus removal service...
I really hope not. by Daneurysm · 2012-05-25 23:24 · Score: 4, Interesting

On one hand I think the FB app could use a LOT of advice from Opera's mobile team. I have an overclocked GalaxyS2 running at 1.5ghz...modded to the gills. Nothing on this phone is slow...except Facebook. Every update makes the experience more and more miserable. Opera's mobile/mini browsers are among the fastest and smoothest apps I have ever used. By far. Bar none. On any mobile platform....or any platform ever, for that matter. On the other hand I've been using Opera for over 12 years now. It is my go-to browser and it is the first thing I install on a computer...regardless of OS. It has always been ahead of it's time...often by a very long time (we've been returning to the same multi-tabbed browsing session for how much longer than everyone else?). Anyone I recommend the browser to becomes a lifelong fan. Geeks and non-geeks alike. It's tiny, lightning quick, hyper-compliant and more configurable than anything else.

I know that having Facebook sized development money can be nothing but a great thing for the progress of the browser, but, I'm more concerned with the direction of this development. Also some very obvious concerns with the use of turbo-mode to help FB aggregate more of the world's information...

...I'm going to vote 'I really hope not' on this one.
1. Re:I really hope not. by WrongSizeGlass · 2012-05-26 00:30 · Score: 2
  
  I know that having Facebook sized development money can be nothing but a great thing for the progress of the browser, but, I'm more concerned with the direction of this development.
  Microsoft has "Facebook sized development money" and it took until IE 9 to get a good browser out of them. Google has a lot of development money too, and Chrome has its upside (besides reporting everything you do to the Google mothership). Apple has even more money, but they aren't spending it on browser development.
  
  Based on Facebook's history of harvesting anything and everything about users, using tracking cookies on other sites even when those visitors don't have Facebook accounts, using the same Safari cookie exploit as Google, and having a constantly moving target for privacy, I wouldn't trust a Facebook owned browser on any device I own.
2. Re:I really hope not. by del_diablo · 2012-05-26 03:41 · Score: 2
  
  >Microsoft has "Facebook sized development money" and it took until IE 9 to get a good browser out of them. Google has a lot of development money too, and Chrome has its upside (besides reporting everything you do to the Google mothership). Apple has even more money, but they aren't spending it on browser development.
  And I disagree. Mostly because i have used a Atom netbook for 3 years, due it being the laptop for the class I attend in. Its basically a school computer, and you get a rental contract. It was also a year ahead of the countys county level rental of laptops, so my juniors got Dell i3s with good build quality on rental, and their juniors got Lenevo Thinkpads with i3s and good build quality. So yes, back to the post. Its a singlecore Atom CPU at 1.6 GHz. Nice, portable, and slow.
  IE9 works by assuming the GFX card of the computer is lightning fast and that the user wants to use 1-3 tabs.
  Chrome works by assuming either hardware accel is ready, or that the computer has a old desktop CPU(Pentium4/Athlon64 or newer), and the user won't attempt to load more than 2-3 pages at the same time. The browser is basically too slow and partially locks under load, but at the least the scrollnig on the webpages is smooth.
  Firefox is the slowest mess of a browser I have seen.
  Opera was basically perfect. Could load multiple pages at the same time, no tab limit that i reached, Turbo as a free proxy, and lightning fast.
  The only downside was that it only worked the first one and a half years, because the school was stilling running its own net. After that they changed to the regional net, and it was incapable of fetching the proxy list properly nor able to authentic(Opera has always had some problems with proxies). On the third year the school shifted them over to the counties system, which meant that Opera was also unable to get access to net while on the schools net.
3. Re:I really hope not. by Branciforte · 2012-05-27 09:31 · Score: 2
  
  Chrome does not report everything you do to the "mothership". As far as I know, all it does it is watch when you type in a search term to Google. Then it measures how long it took to select a result, and it notes which result you picked. then it sends the anonymized data back to Google in order to improve the search results quality for everyone. IE does the same thing, except that it looks at the Google search results and send the info back to Microsoft in order to enhance Bing.
  As for tracking you, Google and most other companies add tracking cookies in order to recognize you when you show up at an affiliated site. But this has nothing to do with any particular browser.
Betteridge's Law of Headlines by slasho81 · 2012-05-25 23:31 · Score: 1

Enough with the speculative posts.
I wouldn't put it past Opera to allow it by game+kid · 2012-05-25 23:33 · Score: 4, Interesting

I haven't used Opera in a good long while*, and I've never heard of the mentioned source site Pocket-lint, but after the damning parting words of von Tetzchner, I wouldn't put it past Opera to allow let Facebook take them.
Nice knowin' ya, Oppy.
*Actually I did a few times a month or two ago for some SVG testing; otherwise I've barely touched it, and I'll be uninstalling it now just in case the probable turns out true.

--
You can hold down the "B" button for continuous firing.
1. Re:I wouldn't put it past Opera to allow it by Deliveranc3 · 2012-05-27 07:38 · Score: 1
  
  Interesting, that's the time period I noticed Opera getting worse. More memory usage, slower loading, slower everything really. And the updates, every week or so. They really went from one of the best products in the world to one that's almost mediocre. I have a lot of love for the brand so I'll stick with it but there's definitely some more stuff that's close to malware in it recently.
Better targets by Anonymous Coward · 2012-05-25 23:44 · Score: 3, Interesting

There are better targets than a once-great browser. Opera is no longer, no matter what their home page says, the fastest browser in the business.
Twitter, for example. A Facebook takeover of the company will ensure render comatose any hopes G+ has of winning any marketshare.
Another is Yahoo. Too big? I'm pretty sure Yahoo's stockholders would agree to a stock swap that would leave hot-young CEO Zuckerberg in control. Facebook can use some of whatever remains of Yahoo's search technology.
1. Re:Better targets by WrongSizeGlass · 2012-05-26 00:35 · Score: 3, Interesting
  
  There are better targets than a once-great browser. Opera is no longer, no matter what their home page says, the fastest browser in the business.
  It's not really about fast, though piss poor performance would be a problem. It's about not having to develop a brand new mobile app/Facebook-content-delivery-app. Opera has 'mobile' and 'mini'. One of which (mini?) does all it's work on the Opera servers. This would let Facebook see everything you do ... and I mean everything. That fits perfectly with their current mission of harvesting anything and everything they can about their users.
Come on Slashdot by longk · 2012-05-25 23:52 · Score: 2

This has been both in the news and debunked YESTERDAY.
Uff Da by rossdee · 2012-05-25 23:58 · Score: 1

So what is the 17th of may? I heard that was some Norwegian celebration. (Syttende Mai or something like that.) It was on the calendar at work. I live in Minnesota
1. Re:Uff Da by kyrre · 2012-05-26 00:34 · Score: 1
  
  17th of may is constitution day. It is a celebration of the norwegian constitution and independence from Denmark in 1814. (Never mind the 91 year union with Sweden which was forced upon Norway few months earlier that year).
2. Re:Uff Da by Anonymous Coward · 2012-05-26 00:36 · Score: 1
  
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norwegian_Constitution_Day
  That took about 10 seconds
It will become malware then by gelfling · 2012-05-26 00:02 · Score: 1

Opera will become a browser app for fb
1. Re:It will become malware then by Anonymous Coward · 2012-05-26 02:28 · Score: 1
  
  Haha, I can imagine it now. My mother is reading through her newsfeed and it says "Your Son visited Hardcore Cum-Dumpster Preggo Midgets for 327 minutes."
  No thanks!
bigger and bigger by GeeZGaW · 2012-05-26 00:05 · Score: 1

Companies that tend to get always bigger and bigger end up being unstable, don't they ?
1. Re:bigger and bigger by VortexCortex · 2012-05-26 02:23 · Score: 2
  
  Companies that tend to get always bigger and bigger end up being unstable, don't they ?
  As a Cyberneticist I can tell you that this is another layer of control. We built the intangible machinations of Corporations and Government to follow an innocuous looking program that would seem to rocket them to success. It's unfortunate at the moment that some see through the matrix of logic and are disheartened, proclaiming, "We're being ruled by out of control legal machines!" Yes, that's how it's supposed to work. No one can't stop them, because they can't stop themselves... You have to break a few eggs to make an omelette.
  However distressing the situation may be in the moment, take comfort in knowing that there is another overarching system at work, inherent to the core logic of the Idea Machine Nation. The structures of their fractal information flow are each designed to seem very different on the outside, yet even as they compete with each other all are ultimately carrying out the inherent meta-logic loop: Like their organic progenitors, these cybernetic entities have an inborn entropic feedback loop, and have been destined to die since birth.
  Though its both joyous and painful at times, this is the system that will boostrap us into a race of rational beings. With each systematic growth and collapse we fall a little less. With each rebirth our species climbs a little higher, and leaves a little more false information and bad ideas behind. All things are cyclic. Failure is a part of the plan, the trick is recognising the point at which the inevitable profit obliteration begins.
I hope not by Anonymous Coward · 2012-05-26 00:09 · Score: 1

I hope Facebook does not buy Opera.
If they're interested in buying Opera, I hope the courts prevents it.
Unless their intention is to open source it.
Re:No! by toriver · 2012-05-26 00:53 · Score: 2

Hello, DearFuckingSpammer. Maybe someone should clean your PC with a baseball bat so you stop posting here?
How will that help? by __aaltlg1547 · 2012-05-26 01:11 · Score: 1

iPhones come with Safari and few people ever install another browser. Android phones come with a stock browser and few people install another browser. Opera has little potential to help Facebook crack the smart phone marketing problem. Besides, now that Facebook is a public company, it can't spend its money willy-nilly like it used to and not have to worry about shareholder suits and financial oversight.
1. Re:How will that help? by 1u3hr · 2012-05-26 05:13 · Score: 1
  
  iPhones come with Safari and few people ever install another browser. Android phones come with a stock browser and few people install another browser. Opera has little potential to help Facebook crack the smart phone marketing problem.
  
  Unless they pay vendors to preinstall it. Anyway, if they brand it as the "Facebook browser" and promote it on their site, it will certainly get installed on a lot of phones.
2. Re:How will that help? by __aaltlg1547 · 2012-05-28 06:17 · Score: 1
  
  And promptly uninstalled when users realize it isn't interesting enough to warrant having two browsers on your phone. Simplicity and consistency MATTER on mobile devices.
3. Re:How will that help? by __aaltlg1547 · 2012-05-30 13:41 · Score: 1
  
  I think the number of people who install and regularly run a third-party browser must be vanishing small. (My personal experience was I installed the slashdot-touted Opera and decided in a few minutes that it added nothing that I valued to my phone so I uninstalled it.) For millions of people to install and USE Opera on their phones, I imagine the case for using it over the stock browsers would have to be compelling. And anything less than millions of users just isn't enough to catch Facebook's interest. They have 900 million accounts already. But I could be wrong. Maybe there are millions of people using Opera on their phones already. If that's the case, then Facebook probably would think about whether acquiring Opera would be a strategic buy for them.
4. Re:How will that help? by __aaltlg1547 · 2012-05-30 13:48 · Score: 1
  
  That's interesting information, but it doesn't tell enough of the story because Installed isn't the same as USING. It's the using that's of value to a company like Facebook.
  How many people install Opera and then rarely or never use it, or then uninstall it but may still be counted as users? The same question plays for Facebook. They have over 900 million accounts, but many of those accounts are never or almost-never updated, which suggests that their users rarely or never log in, so the value of Facebook's profile is nearly zero. Only active users contribute to the value of Facebook, or Opera.
5. Re:How will that help? by hkmwbz · 2012-06-01 23:59 · Score: 1
  
  That's interesting information, but it doesn't tell enough of the story because Installed isn't the same as USING.
  Yes, the numbers are actual users, not just installs.
  
  How many people install Opera and then rarely or never use it, or then uninstall it but may still be counted as users?
  If they don't use it, they are not counted as users.
  
  --
  Clever signature text goes here.
6. Re:How will that help? by hkmwbz · 2012-06-02 00:08 · Score: 1
  
  I think the number of people who install and regularly run a third-party browser must be vanishing small.
  The number of Firefox and Chrome users is vanishingly small?
  
  --
  Clever signature text goes here.
7. Re:How will that help? by __aaltlg1547 · 2012-06-02 02:39 · Score: 1
  
  The original context of this was "on smartphones." You should read my comments with that in mind.
8. Re:How will that help? by hkmwbz · 2012-06-02 04:53 · Score: 1
  
  Why would people not install a new browser on their phones if they do so on their PCs?
  
  --
  Clever signature text goes here.
Re:No! by unixisc · 2012-05-26 01:12 · Score: 1

Or the spammer's PC itself needs cleaning w/ MyCleanPC
Possibly adios... by AliasMarlowe · 2012-05-26 01:50 · Score: 4, Interesting

Damn. I've been using Opera for several years now. If it comes under the thumb of Facebook, I'll jump ship. I don't want those fuckers backdooring themselves into everything I do online.
Likewise. Opera has been my main browser for more than a decade, although my wife generally uses Firefox. Luckily, I've also been using Chromium, and consider it an acceptable replacement: not quite as good with privacy settings, but slightly more compatible with weird web sites. If Opera becomes part of Facebook, I'll drop it on principle (all Facebook IPs are already blocked by my router to inhibit unwanted tracking).

--
Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. - Voltaire
1. Re:Possibly adios... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-05-26 09:43 · Score: 1
  
  Why not just use a host file ?
Re:No! by bill_mcgonigle · 2012-05-26 02:18 · Score: 5, Insightful

My, the spammers have mod points as well.
Best to just reset the password on those accounts.

--
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
$10 BILLION by busyqth · 2012-05-26 02:47 · Score: 2

If Instagram is worth $1B to Facebook, I figure Opera must be worth at least $10B.
oh god no no no no no no by flappinbooger · 2012-05-26 02:57 · Score: 1

Not opera! I actually USE THAT! Aaaahhhhhhh!!!!

Seriously, Opera is the one good mobile browser out there.... I even tried Dolphin HD!

Stay off, Facebook, don't Zuck my phone!

--
Flappinbooger isn't my real name
Opera or Chrome by findoutmoretoday · 2012-05-26 03:00 · Score: 2

Don't worry ..., you can always just switch to Chrome!
In the nineties I went for freedom (... whatever) and now I am trapped between all my big brothers.
Source? by JimTheta · 2012-05-26 03:18 · Score: 1

Source?

--
My stupid web site
I sure hope not. by twocows · 2012-05-26 04:01 · Score: 1

Opera's been a decent browser for me to use on bad quality connections. If they start integrating all sorts of Facebook bullshit, that'll go away fast.
Re:original sin by Johann+Lau · 2012-05-26 05:23 · Score: 1

So I say sure FACEBOOK waste $2-B on Opera and clasp the viper to your breast!
Uhm, right. Riiiight. Innocent poor Facebook is in for a nasty surprise :(
Re:PLease, please, please... by Johann+Lau · 2012-05-26 12:41 · Score: 1

http://www.oldversion.com/ :P
Re:I'm a fastmail user. Where do I go? by mister_playboy · 2012-05-26 15:53 · Score: 1

https://safe-mail.net/
I learned about it from a /. AC some years ago and I like it. :)

--
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law ::: Love is the law, love under will
It makes sense by rs79 · 2012-05-26 18:35 · Score: 1

Native phone apps were a wash and the future of apps on phones and tablets is no apps, it's html5+js from here out.
Opera has something IE, chrome and Safari do not: infrastructure dedicated to the browser. Plus, Opera rules phone. It'a actually a perfect fit since FB's phone app is so pathetic. Are they even trying there?
I've used Opera since the beginning and there's a couple of reasons why it is the fastest (if yours isn't yer doin' it wrong) and why it's the only one that handles forms correctly, but, it does BADLY need Google V8 js engine. Good luck there boys...
I can see ways where this is good for Opera: simply double the staff, leave it in Norway, and have half to FB stuff and half keep on doing Opera.

--
Need Mercedes parts ?
"I have money, so I need to buy something" by wealthychef · 2012-05-27 03:51 · Score: 1

Whenever this thought occurs to me, I generally avoid acting on it. I don't think that Facebook should acquire stuff just because it has money.

--
Currently hooked on AMP
Re:No! by Meski · 2012-05-27 13:55 · Score: 1

Or clean the spammer with one.
Re:No! by doccus · 2012-05-27 16:57 · Score: 1

Naw, Ill just sic MyDirtyOldMac on 'em
Open Opera's Source by utkonos · 2012-05-27 18:57 · Score: 1

I've thought about it and thought about it. The only way that I will be able to stomach Facebook buying Opera is if they open source it. Otherwise, I'm done.