Opera Add-ons

Extensions and themes for the Opera desktop browser

Increased focus on Opera extensions and ending support for Unite applications and Widgets

By Arnstein Teigenespirobind. Tuesday, April 24, 2012 3:01:03 PM

,

Today we are announcing the beginning of the end for two of our current Add-on platforms. Starting with the upcoming Opera 12 release, Opera Unite and Opera Widgets will be turned off by default for new users. The two Add-on platforms will be completely removed in a later release expected before the end of this year.

Over the last six years we have learned a lot from our work on Opera Widgets and Opera Unite, and when we later built the extension platform for Opera 11 we benefited significantly from this experience. Our extension technology has been a great success, with millions of monthly downloads, and so far completely dwarfing the other platforms. Recently, Opera also shipped a labs version with extension support in Opera Mobile, investigating a fully cross-platform extension environment.

Moving forward we want to focus on one high quality Add-on platform across our products, rather than spending resources on maintaining legacy systems. The know how and and technologies from Unite and Widgets are already being reused in other Opera products. An example is the recently announced UPnP support in Opera Dragonfly.

To provide your feedback about use cases for Opera Unite or Opera Widgets you want to transfer other Opera products, please visit to our forum.

If you are a Widget developer you might be interested in how to convert Widgets to extensions.

Catalog update!Jazz up Opera

Comments

fekusz26 Tuesday, July 17, 2012 1:58:33 PM

Also, is it true that you are killing IRC and bittorrent as well?? What come on next, the Mail client?? These were the features what made Opera different from all those other browsers! If I wanted a fast browser, really only for web browsing, than I'd go for Chrome. BUT I WANT OPERA, because I want the real swiss-knife of the web, instead of bloating my computer with 5-6 other applications to get the same job done.

If Opera becomes a 2nd Chrome, it's a nightmare. Please, keep your identity!

Kobzar2Web Wednesday, July 18, 2012 1:19:36 AM

Originally posted by Penge4:

I loved Opera Unite. My acquaintances/clients using MSN, Skype, Google Talk and other IM services which I don't want to install. The Unite (Lounge) was a great solution for that problem. They didn't need to install anything (just a browser), they didn't need to open ports in the firewall in the workplace (only HTTP protocol) and they even didn't need to sign up to any website. (and I didn't need to struggle with stupid adware/spyware/autorun softwares, frequently update them, etc. just because I need to use IM occasionally.

Any alternative solution for this without Unite?

Any alternative solution for UJS Manager? When will support Opera the FileWriter API? Months? Years?

The File Inbox had also been useful, especially nowadays when the Megaupload and other (which isn't crap) was closed. I didn't use the rest, but I saw potential in the Gridnite if it would have been finished. sad

Kobzar2Web Wednesday, July 18, 2012 1:21:01 AM

I support 100%
Penge4`s
opinion
!

Abhinavdecodedthought Wednesday, July 18, 2012 6:53:39 PM

just when I started trying to make use of unite, you decide to remove it down
removing widgets is a good move though !

Kobzar2Web Thursday, July 19, 2012 6:35:04 PM

Originally posted by decodedthought:

just when I started trying to make use of unite, you decide to remove it down
removing widgets is a good move though !

The same thing!

Kobzar2Web Thursday, July 19, 2012 6:35:10 PM

Originally posted by decodedthought:

just when I started trying to make use of unite, you decide to remove it down
removing widgets is a good move though !

The same thing!

Xobrtdoclinux Sunday, July 22, 2012 6:52:36 AM

Напомню адрес голосования против убийства Opera.Unite:

Remember URL for vote against killing Opera.Unite:

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/openoperaunited/

Unite DON'T DIE!!! cry cry cry cry cry cry

EtienneDuval Sunday, July 22, 2012 4:38:19 PM

I have to agree that while I do not use Unite often, it has been the greatest comfort to have and a GREAT tool when I had to share files with friends.

At a friends place with your laptop ? Don't want to spend the 30 min arguing about busting their router settings and then the 1h30 changing the freaking things, testing... nope, not working, test again... ? NONE of that. Just easy and ... well just that easy !

juan gilaljund Tuesday, July 31, 2012 10:02:15 PM

even tho i havent lost all hope for opera to keep what i think is a part of its essence, i been looking for alternatives to opera unite specifically the file transfer tool it has.

tonido is a fine alternative, BUT has a file size cap and its not entirely free. heres the free, full and opens source solution im using and recommend: HFS Http File Server

http://www.rejetto.com/hfs/?f=intro

MossMan Wednesday, August 1, 2012 9:33:08 AM

If you have to run other software, and all you're doing is file transfer, then I still think FTP is the most obvious replacement for Unite.

That gives you:
- full control (no dependence on external servers/services)
- security (set up user accounts and filespace for as many friends and family as you want - all with their own limitations which you set yourself)
- simplicity (everyone and everything can work with FTP!)
- up and downloading without jumping through hoops

The only "disadvantage" I can see is that your PC and FTP server has to be running when other people want to access stuff... but that's the same with Unite. The cloud removes that problem, but the cloud means you have to trust whoever you give your files to that they won't use/abuse/lose your data and that they won't charge you or misuse your user information in some way.

onsen-00 Wednesday, August 1, 2012 9:54:38 AM

@juan gil: Doesn't seem like an alternative to me. Because...
"Working on Windows (all 32bit-versions), Wine/Linux."
..that's two things wrong. First.. 32bit should be the long forgotten past. And second, wine is no option and never ought to be.

Kristian LanderTheParanormalNetwork Thursday, August 2, 2012 9:50:26 AM

Unite was daily functionality for us here. Private file networking is brilliant!
Though i may have an account over at google and use google docs/drive.

I always preferred just to save them in opera unite sync them from my pc to anyone and anywhere in the world.
I could network to friends and groups to share images and sound/video files without dropping them online to the cloud as it were.

And bitorrent downloading via browser is cool! Don't lose it.
Limewire Pirate Edition is out there sure, utorrent etc. But if i grab a file that my colleagues have sent, i dont have to leave my browser. which is productive and a great function. Such because Operas bitorrent isn't a file searcher is not a bad thing!
Besides is it a ball ache, just to have piratebay or whatever on the speed dial? of course not.
Keep Unite, keept bittorrent support!

META-AUTOR Friday, August 3, 2012 3:02:58 PM

:<

juan gilaljund Friday, August 3, 2012 5:12:28 PM

Originally posted by onsen-00:

@juan gil: Doesn't seem like an alternative to me. Because...
"Working on Windows (all 32bit-versions), Wine/Linux."
..that's two things wrong. First.. 32bit should be the long forgotten past. And second, wine is no option and never ought to be.




you are right about that but i did not find anything else sad

did some testing on win 7 64 bits seemed to work fine tho

newAsya Friday, August 3, 2012 5:19:58 PM

Widget SlimAquarium is my favorite game and I would not want to lose. Save the fish!cry heart sad

Unrealmirakulix Friday, August 3, 2012 5:37:24 PM

Why don't you just release an solo widget engine exe to use widgets?

No more support, but widget lovers would be very happy I guess... wink

Alvaro Ezequiel CeballosCynos2009 Tuesday, August 7, 2012 12:26:56 AM

Originally posted by Unrealmirakulix:

Why don't you just release an solo widget engine exe to use widgets?

No more support, but widget lovers would be very happy I guess... wink

Good idea.

Lucas da Costa DantasWDHellS Thursday, August 9, 2012 4:39:06 PM

It looks a very good idea that came to development by Opera,
and it really seems an economic glimpse that would end many web services.

Under the guilty eye of such powerful tool,
to compare of a new energy source that would free many charges
behind of food money in terms of Internet.

Such of development credits now under censorship cannot be stopped,
therefore new browsers would make it to happen again,
a waste to focus on the tool but not in the Browser project.
Which means that the web key for unexpected where social media yet was not able to build,Opera Software should not be afraid of...

But,yet,Microsoft had to pay others to include its own media player at it own system....what a shame.

assignmentman Saturday, August 25, 2012 6:08:26 AM

Try OwnCloud. Replacement for Unite, free, integrates in file manager, cross platform, can be used on phone etc. http://owncloud.org/features/

Online Live/Virtual Demo: http://demo.owncloud.org/

Your computer is the cloud!

Bring back unite anyways it's great b/c it's integrated into browser, thanks!

MossMan Saturday, August 25, 2012 9:41:25 AM

That is the second time you mention OwnCloud (fourth time it's been mentioned in this thread)...

It is *NOT* the same as Unite - it's just a client for synchronising files with a server... so it's NOT serving files directly from your PC to anyone with a browser!

FransFrenzie Saturday, August 25, 2012 11:12:54 AM

Originally posted by MossMan:

It is *NOT* the same as Unite - it's just a client for synchronising files with a server...


Unless I'm misunderstanding something, the server you synchronize with is your very own. Of course that makes it a self-hosted Dropbox alternative, not a Unite alternative, but there's definitely some overlap there. Heck, OwnCloud runs on PHP+Apache and that (or perhaps more directly Node.js+Apache) is what Unite is a kind of super-easy alternative to. However, super easy is the most important thing to note there, mostly thanks to UPnP and Opera's proxy server network. As soon as you take those out of the equation, you're talking about setting up dynamic DNS, port forwarding/virtual servers, etc., which is exactly what Unite is trying to avoid.

assignmentman Saturday, August 25, 2012 5:47:33 PM

great point Frans and MossMan, you're right, I have been spending quit a while getting OwnCloud to work also. Unite did all I want and was so easy. Unite come back please!

Do you guys know of any program like Unite I can use?

FransFrenzie Saturday, August 25, 2012 8:38:29 PM

I'm afraid I don't. It's a real shame too.

MossMan Monday, August 27, 2012 10:16:48 AM

I've said it a few times already, but if you just want to share files then FTP is the oldest, most common and easiest way to do it.

Most *NIX systems have an FTP server built in and there are hundreds of good server systems for other OSes (I used Filezilla Server in the past). Like using Unite file server, anyone can then get to your files with just a browser and your address.

If you don't have a fixed IP address, then No-IP is one service I know where you can register an internet address which always points to your PC (just like Unite used to do through the MyOpera addresses).

So for example, use a Windows machine which runs No-IP login and FileZilla server on startup, and your PC will actually be better at file serving that Unite was. Up and download permissions, file locations etc. can be set for different users - allowing you to have "public" files, photos to share with friends (login required, download only), a space where close family (different login) can upload and download things, and so on.

FransFrenzie Monday, August 27, 2012 2:43:56 PM

@MossMan
You can register a free DynDSN account at https://www.dlinkddns.com which you can keep updated through most better router softwares. I think that's ultimately much simpler than No-IP's custom client.

MossMan Monday, August 27, 2012 4:02:01 PM

It's not really a client, it's just a tiny little program which sends your current IP info to No-IP. I found I could run it, then turn it off, and the No-IP address would link to my PC until the next time I reconnected. Not that I'm a fan of No-IP or anything, but it proved to be a quick and easy solution when I wanted to keep a webcam-eye on something at home and we had no fixed address through our crappy internet provider (*cough* France Telecom *cough*).

FransFrenzie Monday, August 27, 2012 5:58:18 PM

Actually I just noticed that my TomatoUSB can also do that with No-IP.

jkforde Wednesday, August 29, 2012 11:37:59 AM

Opera should keep the file sharing part of Unite (and yes, widgets should go), as there's nothing else like it out there.... why cease development of this unique selling point? the USP of Opera is all its unique features, why do you just want to be another Chrome.... take your eyes off the speed race for a while and smell your own meadow!

nlumb Thursday, August 30, 2012 9:33:04 PM

Don't ditch Unite. It is really good and really useful. I still hope one day I will be able to do all logistical stuff from Opera (Message/Chat/Plan/Calendar/Contacts/Publish/Get files.

A selection of addons may allow you to achieve most if not all of this but I would rather you provided this as a coherent system. I also really like that the files stay on my machine. Sell it as distributed cloud !-)

Ich bin Ludaichbinluda Sunday, September 2, 2012 11:09:28 AM

Rename to Opera Cloud and make it sync with smartphones.
Personal Cloud - Opera Cloud cheers

William E. Taylorweconsultants Wednesday, September 5, 2012 11:37:43 PM

As much as I used Unite now I just use no-ip for static IP address and FileZilla. It is more controllable and even faster. sherlock

jkforde Thursday, September 6, 2012 10:37:30 PM

Originally posted by weconsultants:

As much as I used Unite now I just use no-ip for static IP address and FileZilla. It is more controllable and even faster. sherlock



fair enough but for non-techies Unite offers a simple 'tell me what files to share', 'ok, here's a shareable address....oh, and password protect it if you like with your own chosen password'. all this on one simple web interface, simple as file sharing should be.

QuHno Friday, September 7, 2012 9:36:20 AM

Unite was not only good for file sharing, but for many other things too, e.g. I wrote a small application for fetching data from the small weather station in the garden and distributed it over the local network and some other stuff like that. Nothing for a public sevice because of the very proietary protocol of the weather station, but one of the many good usecases for Unite.


... and the people in our company really loved the whiteboard application.

joechri Sunday, September 9, 2012 8:18:10 AM

I used ebbok Reader, but I didn't find nothing else. However,good job team Opera!

noah44 Saturday, September 15, 2012 2:24:07 PM

When trying to connect to the Unite Media Player, I now get the error message: "[name]'s computer is offline" and "Could not connect to [name]'s computer".

In fact, the server is not offline and can be accessed via the local IP address "http://192.168.1.xxx:8840". The problem does not lie with the Opera client I am using since Mozilla browsers give the same result.

My question: Have you finally pulled the plug on Opera Unite or is there some local problem I am overlooking?

javierfern Sunday, September 23, 2012 10:25:20 PM

Originally posted by ozoratsubasa:

Originally posted by alternatiwe:

(I used file sharing, web server, photo sharing frequently)



I used more the File Sharing, sometimes the Photo Sharing to show some albums I have on pc, and the Web Server I was waiting an opportunity for I test it. And I loved to listen to the Media Player from my friends

Originally posted by icare:

I agree with Tiago Wakabayashi, the Bittorrent should have been dropped a long time ago.

Is there one person in the world to use it ?



I use it sometimes, when I need download something by torrent, so I don't want this be dropped.

Originally posted by icare:

I'd love Unite to be reused as an "platform independent" application.



If Opera cannot use those apps/widgets for extensions, I would prefer an independent application too

Originally posted by operafan2006:

I am not sure why you would drop unite! I still think that has some promise to evolve in more refined way.



Of All three, drop the Unite and Voice, for me, are the worst decisions

+1 Have you signed the petition yet? http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/openoperaunited/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=system&utm_campaign=Send%2Bto%2BFriend

jhilla Tuesday, October 2, 2012 1:16:40 PM

Well I am the original creator of the petition, and as of this morning we are holding at "416". The thing is, (sigh) I don't think Opera has any intention of listening to keeping it. Even if we collected 2 thousand it would still go un-noticed. But apparently there is not enough to generate a reason for it to continue. Maybe if the right group were involved it would have a fair chance. Should we change course and pitch the idea to "Myspace" to join efforts. Not sure what else can be done at this point.

juan gilaljund Wednesday, October 3, 2012 9:07:24 PM

facebook? google plus? but you are right is not a matter of gettin atention its a matter of gettin the intention to keep unite from the opera team i guess we can give up....

Javo Valdebenitojavocover Wednesday, October 10, 2012 5:18:30 AM

Opera, what have you done? now you are becoming in just another web browser for me... too bad.sad

ersi Friday, October 26, 2012 9:34:22 AM

Those features were very useful and necessary for me. I was interested enough to improve Widgets and UJS on my own. I offered many ideas over the years how to streamline their usage and increase their relevance for users. Excellent usable ideas even in this very thread:

Originally posted by ichbinluda:

Rename to Opera Cloud and make it sync with smartphones.
Personal Cloud - Opera Cloud



The reason why Unite, Widgets, and UJS became legacy is just this: lack of heart and ear from the company. Opera (both the browser and the company) has survived due to veteran user loyalty, but I never felt that the company understood this and gave anything back. The company refuses to employ the coherent focus of veteran power users, thus ending up going along with superficial noobs who only know how to tear the interface apart, making it unusable. And then the noobs simply move on to the next browser.

And now it has fallen apart. Major aspects of past development effort have been declared legacy. Makes me ask: Do you have any idea what you are doing?

MossMan Friday, October 26, 2012 10:34:39 AM

Originally posted by MossMan:

I still think FTP is the most obvious replacement for Unite



I tried setting up FTP for someone to send me some large file this week - and now I'm doubtful about my earlier comment! Problems with port-forwarding and explaining FTP to a newbie - and then when it should finally have worked we got an inexplicable "connection closed by host" situation.

I wasn't at home to see what went wrong, so in the end we just sent through Skype instead. Sigh...

ChrisSlamdex Monday, October 29, 2012 9:17:35 AM

Originally posted by ersi:

Opera (both the browser and the company) has survived due to veteran user loyalty, but I never felt that the company understood this and gave anything back.

What utter nonsense.

Most Opera users aren't hardcore geeks, and Opera makes money when people do searches.

The claim that Opera didn't give anything back is insane at best. You get a free browser with loads of useful features.

jeffyork Monday, October 29, 2012 12:44:14 PM

I've tried various other file server services but none of seem to be able to stream content, you have to download them to your phone first. I also tried various cloud services {dropbox, cx, 4sync, sygarsync, etc.) where you have to spend days uploading your content to but none of them can compare to Opera Unite's easiness.

Why can't Opera Unite just be turned into a extension? or a stand-alone service? Is it really that hard to do? I just hate to see Opera Unite which is head over heels better than any cloud service or file/web server service I've tried so far bite the dust. DROPBOX the #1 file cloud service can't even compare!

Alen Pendićsenja1 Tuesday, October 30, 2012 7:41:07 PM

I desperately need Media Player Opera Unite application.

Rhysyow Tuesday, October 30, 2012 9:03:04 PM

What Happened To "Reinventing The Web"?

Doliprane'Doliprane Sunday, November 4, 2012 8:19:43 PM

There's no way I'm leaving Opera Unite, the Chat function and most importantly the file-sharing app which let others choose the file without me uploading anything is VERY HANDY.
Of course I don't use it every other day but PLEASE Opera don't remove it, you might disable it by default but please consider our request!

Orn Hilmarssonmyornhill Saturday, November 10, 2012 10:46:07 PM

Originally posted by jhilla:

Well I am the original creator of the petition, and as of this morning we are holding at "416". The thing is, (sigh) I don't think Opera has any intention of listening to keeping it. Even if we collected 2 thousand it would still go un-noticed. But apparently there is not enough to generate a reason for it to continue. Maybe if the right group were involved it would have a fair chance. Should we change course and pitch the idea to "Myspace" to join efforts. Not sure what else can be done at this point.


LLleonardolaporte Sunday, November 11, 2012 9:27:14 AM

Just file sharing in Opera for friends?

Development of school projects fail.

Sad...

Rod Lockwoodwhitephoenixus Sunday, November 18, 2012 2:58:30 PM

Anything that could have been done with Unite, widgets or extensions could have been done with the others. Unfortunately, you had two problems.

Finding something that you needed or wanted. You had three areas to look in instead of just one. The solution is to convert Unite functions and widgets into extensions. This shouldn’t be much of a problem, should it?

Finding something that you needed or wanted that works. Unless this one is fixed, people using Opera might still wind up frustrated.

MossMan Monday, November 19, 2012 1:30:07 PM

I actually never had any need for extensions (have nothing installed) since the browser already does what it should properly, IMO.

But I did occasionally use a couple of widgets (Simplest Clock (since I have the task bar on the left and MS were too stupid to make the clock scale or rotate rolleyes), a screen-ruler (occasionally useful for measuring up things in pictures), a weather app and I used to use a scientific calculator) and I also used Unite a few times for file/photo up & downloading.

Frankly I find it quite bizarre that they decide "no-one's using it, we'll just kill it" since the whole point of these apps is they are only really for occasional use... so of course they never got millions of hits every day - besides which they never promoted Unite and Widgets properly IMHO so new users didn't know what they were or what they could do (and subsequently no-one developed anything new for them either).

It would be great if Opera could automatically port the existing apps on MyOpera into extensions and also contact all the original developers to offer help in migrating them. Then launch a big new campaign for users to "re-discover" that side of Opera!

But instead we just get told it's going - and then silence... sad

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