Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Update: Opera Browser for Linux

Posted by Roblimo on from the can't-come-soon-enough-for-me dept.

S7 writes "Opera Software has indicated that it is currently diversifying its browser to accomodate a wider flavour of Linux distributions, not just RedHat and its derivatives. Hope they finish soon!" Yeah, I know Mozilla is going to have wonderful features like instant messenger and changeable themes and I don't know what-all else if and when it ever gets end user-usable, but Opera is a plenty good enough browser for the likes of me; it's fast, compact, simple, and reliable, all of which are software qualities I admire immensely. In fact, the only two things I really miss from Windows are Opera and NoteTab, which is IMO the worlds's finest text processing tool for online journalists. Now that Opera's on its way to Linux, all I need is a Linux version of NoteTab or something like it and I'll be in PC heaven!

6 of 170 comments (clear)

  1. Why I can't support Opera by Trick · · Score: 4

    While I'm sure Opera is a great browser, it seems to me their marketing philosophy is about as incompatible with free software's as you can get.

    From their own literature: "Nothing is really 'free'. It is merely subsidized by other products. It is done in the interest of market share and domination, but not necessarily in the interest of the user. "

    They further claim that the only reason software is given away free is to "tie in" users to buying software later. To those of us backing free software, this is obviously a gross overgeneralization at best, and complete ignorance of what we stand for at worst.

    The following bothers me even more: "And besides, you may get something 'free', but then it's mostly 'cheap' and of inferior quality. 'Free' and Opera don't go together - and never will."

    If this is really what they believe, they need to do a little research before they even think about pushing their way into the Linux market.

    ---
    Consult, v. t. To seek another's approval of a course already decided on.

    1. Re:Why I can't support Opera by arcade · · Score: 3

      If this is really what they believe, they need to do a little research before they even think about pushing their way into the Linux market.

      I really hope you believe that every software for linux should be 'gratis'. There are lots of non-free software available for unix / linux. Opera will be an addition to this.

      Linux will never become a big hit, if we (the linux users) demand that every piece of software for this OS should be free. We need companies like Adobe to make programs for us -- so that more webdesigners move to linux. Don't give me the stuff about gimp - since gimp its current state cannot compete with commercial alternatives for windows.

      The point is - for the commercial vendors to support linux, they need to make a profit. And to make a profit, they need to sell software. At least they think so. They won't bite on RMS hook and start making Free Software and sell support and so on. They want to sell their software.

      I greet Opera Software welcome to the linux market, and I look forward to buying their browser when it does become available.


      --

      --
      "Rune Kristian Viken" - http://www.nwo.no - arca
    2. Re:Why I can't support Opera by Trick · · Score: 4

      No, I don't believe absolutely everything that runs on Linux needs to be free -- actually, in either sense of the word. It'd be nice, yes, but I'm willing to admit that a lot of good software that isn't one or both types of "free" might still be good to see on Linux.

      My problem with the Opera people is that they seem to think anything free is shoddy, and the fact that their software isn't free is some kind of incentive to use it. It just sort of flies in the face of everything that created the OS they've decided to port their browser to.

      ---
      Consult, v. t. To seek another's approval of a course already decided on.

  2. Opera is WINEable by mutende · · Score: 3

    For those of you who cannot hold your breath: Opera is WINEable.

    //Mutende
    --

    --
    Unselfish actions pay back better
  3. Opera will never be a big player by Tumbleweed · · Score: 3

    Why?

    1) Their HTML rendering is quite lame. It doesn't render most simple HTML correctly, so things look 'weird' compared to Navigator/IE. If they can't even get that right, they've got no chance.

    2) The interface to the program is, well, 'weird'. It's not intuitive; it's way too complex and hard to configure the way most people are used to browsers working (and yes, I realize some people may not like the way Navigator/IE work interface-wise, but that's what people are used to).

    3) It costs money. Duh. Remember how Navigator started losing the browser war in the first place?

    And lastly, c'mon, the name of the thing! The only thing worse than Opera is Country & Western! ;)

  4. Roblimo... by linuxci · · Score: 3

    The context of your comments about Mozilla seems to imply you think it is going to be yet another slow and bloated Netscape browser. If you had read the previous comments on the other two recent Mozilla articles you would have realised that Mozilla is making really excellent progress and is a compact download size.

    Netscape will be themeable but that's just a spin off of their XUL user interface language. The fact that all the interfaces are written in XUL means that it can be easily themed as well as customising the user interface to the way you want.

    As for integrating Instant messaging with email. No one at Mozilla.org said that and even if Netscape does do that you can easily get a copy that wouldn't have this feature.

    Mozilla is here now (although in pre-alpha form). You can't see a current build of Opera on Linux so I believe Mozilla will be along sooner rather than later. Even if you don't like Mozilla their rendering engine is good and someone can use it as a base for another browser with a different interface.

    If Opera had started porting (although to be fair they didn't have much money when they started) to other operating systems before the Mozilla announcement I believe they would have got a good share of the market but now their browser is likely to follow behind Mozilla and so is unlikely to succeed unless they can offer something special.

    --