Tweak

It is a perennial issue: why is Opera's marketshare not growing, when we have a product that attracts a large group of devoted users? I'll leave it to our sales and marketing department to look at this professionally, but one of the things that Firefox had going for it was a aggresive outreach campaign. Sometimes this devolved to rabid fanboyism (still does, actually). I see fanboyism as denying even reasonable complaints about your favorite browser, and issueing sweeping statements about the quality of other browsers not founded in reality, or without any knowledge of the underlying issues and history.

Opera has fanboys of its own. They seem mostly to be confined to the my.opera.com, sometimes venturing out to troll on the mozillazine forums and Asa's blog (though they don't see themselves as trolls, just like Firefox's fanboys). But it is interesting to see some more unabashed Opera promotion from people not linked to my.opera.com, especially when it well-balanced and argumented.

This recent blog post for example is not fanboyism, though it's title is promising: Why Opera beats Firefox. The blog post Opera Is Easily The Best Browser Avalible is politely bashing Firefox but with (IMHO) more shaky arguments.

This much linked blog posting is very positive for the self-image of Opera users, as the comments clearly show: What does your browser reveal about you?.

Then there are several Firefox-to-Opera converts: FireFox slides back. Opera Catches up. and "Opera 9"--- Is the fat lady singing?. Other Firefox fans are trying it out on friend's advice: they like what they see. Another advice to try Opera comes from The Battle of the Web Browsers - IE, Firefox and Opera - Which is Best. This blog post links to a nice review which states for Internet Explorer users, you can import your Favourites, so there really is no reason not to switch, and to a glowing review in Web user, a British magazine.

It helps of course if independent speed tests keep proving that Opera's JavaScript implementation is suberb nowadays. Now if only websites will start making use of Opera 9's improved JavaScript support, and stop sending unzipped content to Opera for example, the web might become an even nicer place for Opera's users. So to all Opera fans: keep telling your friends, especially if they only tried Opera years ago, and keep telling websites they should test in Opera!

I'm not going to quote every Opera Lover I find, but this one is nice because it indicates Opera is especially suited for those who spend a lot of time online:

right now, for the kind of wholesale surfing I do when perusing all those news sites, Opera is my champion.

Also found:

I have used the browser extensively in the last week and so has my wife. Both of us like it much better than either IC or Firefox. Easy of use and an ability to handle web site layouts that IE and Firefox mangle led us to the decision. We strongly suggest that you include it among your browsers. Maybe, like us, you will make it your principal browser.

You can find nice comments from bloggers on Opera (and a lot of drivel) by subscribing to a 'opera browser' search on Feedster. Choice quotes today:

I have been using Opera much more regularly and soon discovered that it's not only at least as good as Firefox, but is simply better.

I must say it’s a huge improvement over IE and a lot better than Firefox.

"Little market research about new users?"
<http://my.opera.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=69775>

This is a really interesting thread about user experiences in trying to spread the word about Opera. I'd love to see dozens of replies in that thread!