Opera has had to actually make money to stay alive, while Mozilla has relied on donations. Now Mozilla, too, wants a piece of the pie, hence the forming of the Mozilla Corporation. You seem to think that Mozilla is this idealistic organization which only wants to do good, but it's behaving like a predatory corporation which uses any means, including lies, to get ahead of the competition.
The "referrer ID's" you are talking about are the same that Mozilla uses when you search through Firefox.
It has always been possible to edit searches through search.ini. Just because there isn't a fancy UI for it doesn't mean that there's a conspiracy or anything like that behind it. A UI is coming in Opera 9 anyway, along with lots of other frequently requested features.
"Opera has been surpassed by KHTML-based browsers for standards compliance"
It hasn't. If you are referring to KHTML passing the Acid2 test, that still doesn't mean that it is more standards compliant. Acid2 is just a tiny subset of features of the various standards.
"and the open source Mozilla browsers function as well as Opera does PLUS are open source and are supported by hundreds of browser extension plugins and are highly customizable, Opera has become less attractive as an MSIE alternative."
Not really. Firefox is an alternative if you want to spend a lot of time maintaining a huge list of extensions that break on every second upgrade of Firefox to get basic things done, maybe. Plus the bloat/slowdown you notice when using Firefox compared to Opera of course.
Me, I like integration, and bolting on different extensions doesn't give you integration.
"Recently with Opera having been released as a free product, I'm wondering how your company can sustain itself."
Search deal with Google, like Firefox does.
"however with MSIE being bundled into Windows CE, it's got to be tough to compete and convince OEMs that licensing your browser in addition to Windows CD is a wise business choice"
Opera is actually available for Windows Mobile, and that's because people (corporate customers probably) wanted to use Opera there.
"So I and I'm sure that everyone else here is wondering: what is your goal? Is it to build an MSIE replacement to encourage a Microsoft buyout?"
Uh, Opera's goal is what it has always been. Not everyone is in it for the money alone, you know. The CEO has repeatedly stated that Opera is not for sale.
"How is Opera expecting to survive in the face of free extensible open-source browsers?"
Just because they are open source doesn't mean that they are better products.
As long as this world has a lot of different people with different needs there will be a market for different kinds of browsers.
"Now that Opera is free and is not even supported by ads, where is your revenue stream coming from?"
Like Firefox, Opera gets money from search partners when you search through the browser.
"How do you plan on making money when a free, open source product is directly competing with you?"
Obviously by making Opera free as in beer, which has already been done. Open source is irrelevant to most people anyway.
"Not only is it a complete product, but because it is open source, it has addons for just about anything available."
You are wrong, actually. This isn't because it is open source, but because it has an extensions API. Opera could add an extensions API too. Heck, IE has been doing this for years.
"I also have never seen a single application (including Opera) that can do 50 major tasks as well as 50 stand alone applications specifically designed for those tasks."
Then why does the Opera browser and e-mail client blow away Firefox and Thunderbird? Among other things because of the integration itself.
And before you respond, yes, I actually think it does blow away Mozilla's offerings, and there's nothing you can do about that. If you don't like Opera's way of doing things, fine. But don't assume that everyone wants to de-integrate everything and force you to install everything separately.
But hey, who needs FTP support in a browser, right? A browser is a browser, so one should have to download a separate FTP client. And downloading? Get a separate download manager. Integration of these things will surely suck, right?
"In a related question, Opera has always been a tweaker's dream browser, with a high degree of exposed configurability. Yet recently the browser has moved to an affiliate-supported model driven by sending people to specific sites."
Are you trolling?
Opera is no less configurable now than in the past. The "affiliate-supported model" you are talking about is probably the search deal with Google, which is completely voluntary, and which is the same as Firefox uses. And you can edit the searches anyway.
There is no "sending people to specific sites" in Opera, unless you are referring to the default bookmarks, in which case you haven't seen the older versions with Opera that had HUNDREDS of them.
"Have there been any features cut or added in support of this bottom line?"
You are obviously being vague on purpose here to get people wondering about what this "evil company" might be doing, when the fact is that they are doing the same they've always done, and what Firefox does as well. Clearly you have an agenda here, but I'll gladly set the record straight. You will of course continue to be vague in the hope that you'll trick some naive Slashdotters into thinking that there's something sinister going on.
Obviously because Firefox was free of charge, while Opera cost money. Also, Firefox has marketing going for it, and 1.0 was released at just the right time: When everyone was focusing on IE's security flaws and people were recommended to switch to something else. Firefox was easy enough to use back then, while Opera cost money and wasn't as easy to start out with for newbies as it is today.
Could you explain why the comparison is valid? Did they have competitors in other markets they were entering (Sony, game consoles) that they were using their desktop monopoly to fight dirty against? Was USB/Firewire relevant to other markets Microsoft were entering or already in? Same for DVD burning...
Of course it matters. What about streaming movies over the net? If my connection is fast enough to, say, pay to play a movie over the net as much as I'd like for 24 hours instead of having to walk to the video store to rent it, that would be a good thing.
But what's this thing about protecting phone companies by blocking new technology that competes with their monopolies? Seriously? Shouldn't they be punished for this kind of thing?
I wasn't being sarcastic, even though I can see how my comment would come across that way.
I was not aware that the Bible had in fact been banned in places, so thanks for the information. I still think it's a matter of double standards when one wants to ban violent videogames, or games with sexual content, and still tell kids to read the Bible. It happens a lot...
"Norway had a very high standard of living even before North Sea oil was discovered"
No it did not. The country was in ruins after WWII. Of course, the Marhsall Plan helped Norway through the rough times, until they discovered the oil.
"Norway has for the most part resisted lavishly spending or distributing oil money."
Indeed, but that is irrelevant. If you think Norway isn't rich because of the oil you are deluding yourself. That Norway has savet lots of money from the oil doesn't mean that they aren't swimming in money because of the oil industry.
"Also oil doesn't explain the high standards of living for other, non oil-producing European states that also have higher SOLs than the US."
Countries like Sweden had to do it the hard way. They had to build real industries that made real money, rather than pumping it up from the ground. Volvo, IKEA, and so on.
The problem is that the former non-socialist government brought in more tax money than ever even though they lowered taxes for everyone during the years they were in power. In addition to that the economy went better than ever, interest rates took a nosedive, more jobs were created than ever (new companies popped up at an unprecedented rate), and so on.
Anyway, Norway's standard of living is pretty much down to the oil. The socialists are expecting the oil and higher taxes to pay for everything, while the previous government wanted economical growth and an easier time for people who actually create jobs.
Slashdot Mirror
Why don't you use Opera Mini then?
This is based on an announcement on the Oslo Stock Exchange. Got nothing to do with PR. Opera has to announce such deals there.
Opera has had to actually make money to stay alive, while Mozilla has relied on donations. Now Mozilla, too, wants a piece of the pie, hence the forming of the Mozilla Corporation. You seem to think that Mozilla is this idealistic organization which only wants to do good, but it's behaving like a predatory corporation which uses any means, including lies, to get ahead of the competition.
The "referrer ID's" you are talking about are the same that Mozilla uses when you search through Firefox.
It has always been possible to edit searches through search.ini. Just because there isn't a fancy UI for it doesn't mean that there's a conspiracy or anything like that behind it. A UI is coming in Opera 9 anyway, along with lots of other frequently requested features.
Opera will be making money off searches on the desktop. Like Firefox does.
Me, I like integration, and bolting on different extensions doesn't give you integration.
Search deal with Google, like Firefox does. Opera is actually available for Windows Mobile, and that's because people (corporate customers probably) wanted to use Opera there. Uh, Opera's goal is what it has always been. Not everyone is in it for the money alone, you know. The CEO has repeatedly stated that Opera is not for sale. Just because they are open source doesn't mean that they are better products.As long as this world has a lot of different people with different needs there will be a market for different kinds of browsers.
Like Firefox, Opera gets money from search partners when you search through the browser.You need to reset Opera to the default toolbar setup. Sounds like you are using the main bar, which is disabled by default.
And before you respond, yes, I actually think it does blow away Mozilla's offerings, and there's nothing you can do about that. If you don't like Opera's way of doing things, fine. But don't assume that everyone wants to de-integrate everything and force you to install everything separately.
But hey, who needs FTP support in a browser, right? A browser is a browser, so one should have to download a separate FTP client. And downloading? Get a separate download manager. Integration of these things will surely suck, right?
Opera 9 supports XSLT.
Opera is no less configurable now than in the past. The "affiliate-supported model" you are talking about is probably the search deal with Google, which is completely voluntary, and which is the same as Firefox uses. And you can edit the searches anyway.
There is no "sending people to specific sites" in Opera, unless you are referring to the default bookmarks, in which case you haven't seen the older versions with Opera that had HUNDREDS of them.
You are obviously being vague on purpose here to get people wondering about what this "evil company" might be doing, when the fact is that they are doing the same they've always done, and what Firefox does as well. Clearly you have an agenda here, but I'll gladly set the record straight. You will of course continue to be vague in the hope that you'll trick some naive Slashdotters into thinking that there's something sinister going on.Explanation.
Opera 9 has XLink, XPath, XSLT, and is apparently close to supporting the SVG Basic profile (8.x supports Tiny).
Obviously because Firefox was free of charge, while Opera cost money. Also, Firefox has marketing going for it, and 1.0 was released at just the right time: When everyone was focusing on IE's security flaws and people were recommended to switch to something else. Firefox was easy enough to use back then, while Opera cost money and wasn't as easy to start out with for newbies as it is today.
And did you see the part about cash incentives?
But what's this thing about protecting phone companies by blocking new technology that competes with their monopolies? Seriously? Shouldn't they be punished for this kind of thing?
I was not aware that the Bible had in fact been banned in places, so thanks for the information. I still think it's a matter of double standards when one wants to ban violent videogames, or games with sexual content, and still tell kids to read the Bible. It happens a lot...
Link
Dear recording industry: Ha! Merry Fucking Christmas, motherfuckers!
So whether the product has bugs or not does not depend on the marketing.
Firefox Flicks doesn't exactly seem to be a huge success. I don't see it mentioned anywhere except on Slashdot a couple of times.
Anyway, Norway's standard of living is pretty much down to the oil. The socialists are expecting the oil and higher taxes to pay for everything, while the previous government wanted economical growth and an easier time for people who actually create jobs.
The point is that Opera is not based on Qt. Qt is just there to deal with a few things like system dialogs on Unix.