Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Opera Software Changes Name To Otello Corporation (reuters.com)

Posted by msmash on from the what's-in-a-name dept.

Opera Software has changed its name to Otello Corporation, it said in a statement on Monday. From a report: Otello owns companies that develop software for advertising, telecoms, games and other online business. The name changes does not affect Opera Software AS or the Opera and Opera Mini internet browsers, all of which Otello sold in 2016, Opera Software AS said in a separate statement.

22 of 55 comments (clear)

  1. Slow news day? by xxxJonBoyxxx · · Score: 1

    It's been about ten years since Opera mattered, even to nerds.

    1. Re:Slow news day? by Hal_Porter · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Opera used to be great back in the 12.x days. Then they switched rendering engines and lost all the features that made it better than Chrome.

      Interestingly there are attempts to recreate the Opera 12.x UI features in other browsers, Vivaldi and Otter.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opera_(web_browser)#See_also

      --
      echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
    2. Re:Slow news day? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Opera still matters. It's a perfect example of why throwing away your own code and switching to "the big thing" destroys your identity.
      In this case, it was Opera ditching Presto for Chromium. End result, no change in marketshare, shittier software and a shittier community.

      It also shows how FOSS can fill the void when companies fail their users. In this case, my Opera 12 needs are almost filled by Otter Browser.

    3. Re:Slow news day? by jellomizer · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I tossed out Opera when they upgraded the Opera Mini with "news feeds" that cannot be disabled.
      Because of the following
      1. I wanted to save bandwidth having news feeds counteracted that.
      2. The "News" was click bait not actual news.
      3. It was slowing my browsing experience.

      This change from a browser company to an add company is quite apt. Because I don't care to use a browser who counteracts all their positive features with junk. So it runs poorly overall.
      Car Analogy: It is like having a Sports Car built with a non-detachable trailer.

      --
      If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
    4. Re:Slow news day? by Hal_Porter · · Score: 1

      uBlock Origin does all the things uMatrix does now

      https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki/Blocking-mode:-medium-mode

      https://www.wilderssecurity.com/threads/umatrix-help.388516/#post-2620652

      That post is December 2013. The truth is that I am not using uMatrix anymore, I use uBO in medium mode. With 3rd-party cookies and all plugins blocked by default in browser, this is really what works for me.

      --
      echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
    5. Re:Slow news day? by hcs_$reboot · · Score: 1

      Did you really need a car analogy? Next time you want to talk about a sports car built with a non-detachable trailer, use a browser analogy.

      --
      Slashdot, fix the reply notifications... You won't get away with it...
    6. Re:Slow news day? by jellomizer · · Score: 2

      You always need a Car Analogy. Without one is like a Manual Transmission car without an RPM Gage, while not required, it is kinda expected, and useful.
       

      --
      If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
    7. Re:Slow news day? by gweihir · · Score: 1

      Bookmarks still suck in Vivaldi (well, depends on your usage), but I have moved over from Opera 12.x. Opera never recovered from their ill-advised change after 12.x, in particular because they were not up to the same feature-set for a long time. (They still may not be, I have stopped caring.) Way to waste a very good niche position.

      --
      Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
    8. Re:Slow news day? by ELCouz · · Score: 1

      My previous Ford Focus (MY 2005) didn't have any tachometer and was manual. It's more common than you think! Shift light only.

    9. Re:Slow news day? by Desler · · Score: 1

      This change from a browser company to an add company is quite apt.

      Good thing they hadn’t become a minus company.

  2. Re:you forgot ur "h" sakespear by amalcolm · · Score: 4, Informative

    Not necessarily. Given that i's a reference to opera - Verdi's opera Otello is spelled exactly like that, being the Italian translation for Othello.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

    --
    Time for bed, said Zebedee - boing
  3. Now that's quite an unexpected ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    ... reversi!

  4. doesn't sound chinese enough to me... by maybe111 · · Score: 2

    Opera browser sold to a Chinese consortium for $600 million...

    1. Re:doesn't sound chinese enough to me... by CrashNBrn · · Score: 1

      Which was hilarious. At that point they basically sold the Chinese a bunch of Czech developers familiar with Chromium. Any of the Norwegian devs that were left had already jumped ship to join the Vivaldi project spearheaded by Opera's ex-CEO.

  5. Bad Idea by boudie2 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I still use Opera 11.60 which may have been their last "decent" browser. Doesn't work for every site, but for some it's great. They should call their new company BadIdeas because that seems to be all they've come up with for years.

    1. Re:Bad Idea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Check out Otter Browser: https://otter-browser.org/

      It's not quite up to Opera 11/12 levels, but it is getting there. It's FOSS, and has been actively developed since the Opera switch...

    2. Re:Bad Idea by boudie2 · · Score: 1

      Actually I was trolling for dickheads and think I caught one!

    3. Re:Bad Idea by CrashNBrn · · Score: 1

      Well I am male. That's at least half true.

  6. Re:you forgot ur "h" sakespear by Khyber · · Score: 1

    ITT an AC confuses the game with one of the most classic tragic operas.

    As an aside, the recent (two months ago) VTO modernized version of Verdi's Otello was great to watch and be one of the behind-the-scenes people. I did grip, supertitle, and production of a custom silk-screened plot device kerchief gift handed out at the doors.

    --
    Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
  7. Re:The name is irrelevent. by hcs_$reboot · · Score: 1

    Name irrelevant? Otter... Otello...

    --
    Slashdot, fix the reply notifications... You won't get away with it...
  8. What's in a name? by Solandri · · Score: 1

    The problem with picking a name like this is that a large fraction of your potential customers will spell it the way it's normally spelled in English - Othello. When they're unable to find the website to download the browser, a large number of them will just give up.

    A similar thing happened to a friend. He opened a high-end mail order chocolate shop (one of the places he advertised was in-flight magazines) but used some name whose spelling looked nothing like its pronunciation. I warned him that would make it impossible for people who vaguely remembered the name to find his store via a web search, but he was so enamored with the name he stuck with it. He was bankrupt within a few years. (The chocolates were good though.)

    Likewise, company and product names which are common words (Opera, Otello/Othello) can be impossible to find in search engines or have a lot of noise in their search results. Whereas made-up unique names and acronyms or obscure words from dead languages (VAIO, ATIV, Camry, Prius, Pepsi, Verizon, etc.) yield easy and exact search results, provided people can remember your made-up word. I know this is marketing, but in this case it's true. You want your customers to be able to find you as easily as possible.

    1. Re:What's in a name? by ausekilis · · Score: 1

      I've found companies change names when they no longer want to be associated with whatever crap they tried to pull before. Just look at the Mortgage industry, I've had a house for 10 years and my company has changed names 4 times. Yes, they suck.

      Opera Mini is absolutely god awful on iOS and crashes at the thought of a wordpress site, jumbled nonsense on HTML5 sites (if I'm looking at it right). What else is Opera trying to run away from?