Opera News

We hope you wished for speed

By Espen André ØverdahlEspenAO. Thursday, December 24, 2009 1:52:11 PM

A few days ago Opera Software released a sneak peak of the performance that is to come in Opera 10.5. If you wished for speed this year, Opera delivers, and so does helmers with his kicky christmessy wallpaper!

Check out his deviant art page or click on the picture to the right to download the full size (1920x1200).

From all of us, to all of you!Opera fan sites

Comments

Tri M. NguyenTriMN # Thursday, December 24, 2009 2:03:59 PM

God Jul!

Hilton's BoyfriendHolo3D # Thursday, December 24, 2009 2:04:05 PM

You got my wish

Tamil # Thursday, December 24, 2009 2:06:32 PM

Tandder Limatandder # Thursday, December 24, 2009 2:10:18 PM

NICE!

Philippkillerrabbit # Thursday, December 24, 2009 2:36:35 PM

Uncle MickMickeyjoe-Irl # Thursday, December 24, 2009 2:38:42 PM

http://files.myopera.com/Tamil/Smilies/Happy.gif -

Nollaig Shona agus Athbhliain faoi Mhaise Daoibh.
Have a Happy Christmas and a Prosperous New Year.

Andrew Nguyenandrewnguyen # Thursday, December 24, 2009 3:13:57 PM

Charles SchlossChas4 # Thursday, December 24, 2009 3:19:46 PM

thobi # Thursday, December 24, 2009 3:20:28 PM

nice one

Diego Schild Smithstekonaza # Thursday, December 24, 2009 3:45:26 PM

Nice!

random414 # Thursday, December 24, 2009 3:53:14 PM

Very cool wallpaper!

A version without the text from the centre would be great as a Speed Dial background.

dirkthetomster # Thursday, December 24, 2009 4:24:07 PM

John A. Bilicki IIIjabcreations # Thursday, December 24, 2009 4:27:26 PM

Look at all the pretty lights! ...and 1920x1200, very cool!

Benben2talk # Thursday, December 24, 2009 4:55:04 PM

Actually, I just wished that Opera would try to keep up with Firefox and Chromium and Chrome on Linux - it's a little behind, and a little slower too - suffering mostly from the lack of add-ons and features (like feedly, and Alwitts Facebook Enhancer, Flashblocker/video downloader, Shareholic, etc....

KristianKristianP # Thursday, December 24, 2009 5:02:53 PM

Speed and a freezed Opera Logo

Jeff ™intelimac20inch # Thursday, December 24, 2009 6:40:21 PM

d4rkn1ght # Thursday, December 24, 2009 7:10:08 PM

Caroloperainchicago # Thursday, December 24, 2009 7:18:18 PM

Beautimus!

Purdi # Thursday, December 24, 2009 7:34:08 PM

Originally posted by ben2talk:

Actually, I just wished that Opera would try to keep up with Firefox and Chromium and Chrome on Linux - it's a little behind, and a little slower too

Really! And you have TRIED the Linux version of Opera 10.5?

suffering mostly from the lack of add-ons and features (like feedly, and Alwitts Facebook Enhancer, Flashblocker/video downloader, Shareholic, etc....

Stop spamming the blog with useless requests (never mind the fact that most of these can easily be done in Opera).

jiras # Thursday, December 24, 2009 8:53:24 PM

Can we get a version without text?

Joeljgm21 # Thursday, December 24, 2009 9:08:17 PM

I like this design.

IKoke # Thursday, December 24, 2009 11:42:37 PM

BlueFalcon # Friday, December 25, 2009 1:24:29 AM

Very nice

Kyle Bakerkyleabaker # Friday, December 25, 2009 4:05:17 AM

Great wallpaper! Thanks!

Uncle MickMickeyjoe-Irl # Friday, December 25, 2009 11:30:02 AM

http://files.myopera.com/Mickeyjoe_irl/albums/46322/10_5_desktop.png -
Note the temperature in Kilkenny (top right corner) brr

jottosson # Friday, December 25, 2009 3:10:46 PM

wicked, excellent addons!

Harlekin Mondharlekinmond # Friday, December 25, 2009 5:34:09 PM

Beautiful present, thank you

Merry Christmas to you and everybody =)

Barraco Mármol Jerónimojerobarraco # Friday, December 25, 2009 6:47:02 PM

muy bueno!

rolarocka # Friday, December 25, 2009 8:58:51 PM

Of course we wished speed

and thanks for speed

Happy New Year!!!

Alexodius PrimeAleksOD # Saturday, December 26, 2009 8:09:52 PM

Yup, Opera, right on target

Benben2talk # Monday, December 28, 2009 9:15:26 AM

I must admit that I was very worried about Opera - though it is less prone to problems than Firefox, I found that Firefox was taking over a little - and Chromium started to feel really nice. Nice to see Opera keeping up the comptetition - next I'd like to see some ability to use more features (add-ons, or built in) to compete with the awesome Firefox model (though some add-ons can be problematic, there are many excellent one's out there, and they're showing up in Chromium too...).

Kamaleshkamalesh # Monday, December 28, 2009 8:00:25 PM

@Helmers: Very cool design for an Opera wallpaper! Thx much.

EDIT: HEY, I just noticed you left out two of my favorite gifts under the tree: Opera Link & Opera Turbo! What gives??

Kamaleshkamalesh # Monday, December 28, 2009 8:17:41 PM

@Ben: Sadly, you are in fantasyland. Approximately 70% of Firefox users do not have EVEN ONE of these wonderful, fabled add-ons...which means they're using a naked, crippled browser (albeit more web-standard browser than IE) compared to Opera.

And as you said, "...and add-ons can be problematic."

No, it's a disaster for the everyday, typical user.

After you install one or more, there's no versioning and you can't upgrade FF without wasting a whole day. You never know if they cause instability and crashing...and security holes.

Firefox has done a great job bringing browser choice, but it's time to move on now and introduce those 70% of users to more speed & better hassle-free out-of-box features, I think (and 100% Acid3 bliss for web developers).

techlawsam # Monday, December 28, 2009 11:45:45 PM

nice!

Benben2talk # Tuesday, December 29, 2009 12:33:54 PM

Originally posted by kamalesh:

"After you install one or more, there's no versioning and you can't upgrade FF without wasting a whole day. You never know if they cause instability and crashing...and security holes."

I have Adblock Plus, sidebar, Bandwidth meter and diagnostics, Better GReader, Feedly, Cooliris, Coolpreviews, Donwthemall, Downloadhelper, FireFTP, Firegestures, Fission (in URL bar progress, similar to Safari), Flagfox (extra security, flag for site origin), Flashblock, Integrated Gmail (better than using mail in Opera), Locationbar2 (excellent twist on the normal URL bar), Prism (can create 'application shortcut' for a web application), Secure login, speed dial (better options than Opera - with tabs), WOT, Feedly (best way to read feeds)

All these add-ons are running smoothly in Firefox 3.5.8 - and most work well enough in Firefox 3.7 too.

In use, set up right, Firefox handles nicer than Opera - I don't care what the ignorant masses are doing, and I'm aware that many of them don't modify Firefox at all - which is why Firefox 4.0 will come set up more the way I like it without adding any extras.

You DO know if they cause instability, because you launch in Safe mode and turn them on until the problem returns. I have no understanding of what you mean by 'no versioning and it takes all day to upgrade' because my Firefox is generally upgraded every day or two with no problems whatsoever. The repositories for Opera only tend to offer very infrequent upgrades or fixes.

Look at the numbers of users if you want facts. I accept that you're entitled to a grossly biased opinion, but if you talk to people on identi.ca (many of whom are developers) you'll find that Opera is not a popular choice, one main reason being because of it's closed source model, and another because Web Developers develop primarily for IE, and secondarily for Firefox - and take no real interest in adapting stuff that won't work in Opera.

Johnny Gameflashgames # Tuesday, December 29, 2009 5:18:42 PM

Charles SchlossChas4 # Tuesday, December 29, 2009 5:25:24 PM

Originally posted by ben2talk:

another because Web Developers develop primarily for IE, and secondarily for Firefox - and take no real interest in adapting stuff that won't work in Opera.

That is one of the issues for the web they were not writing code for ie and ff just ie 7 and below (IE 8 is the first ie to follow web standards by default, all browser support web standards) SO all they have to do now is write for the web standards and then it will also be cross platform

mirtisee # Tuesday, December 29, 2009 9:02:00 PM

nice

Michael BeatonMichaelb # Tuesday, December 29, 2009 11:55:20 PM

"We hope you wished for speed"

What I really wish for is that the system would just work. It seems to me that increasingly pages that used to work simply don't anymore.

I have used, and championed Opera since v6. I paid for it when it is was an option to do so.

Increasingly I have to click on "Open with Other..."

What is the problem? If it is non-standard design ... cant these be examined differently, maybe allowed if it is mainstream enough? Make it an "addon" if that is what needs to happen.

Anyway... Forget the speed. That is fine. Make it work. Please.

michael

Kamaleshkamalesh # Wednesday, December 30, 2009 2:09:02 AM

Originally posted by Michaelb:

the system would just work

List the sites, Michael. I was a paid user also.

Originally posted by ben2talk:

in Firefox 3.5.8 - and most work well enough in Firefox 3.7 too.

You made my point, thx. (Also, you're using Feedly's add-on twice, so if FF is crashing a bit, de-install one instance.)

Btw, as @Chas4 mentioned, web developers don't need to code for Opera -- write web-standard code and tweak the annoyances, done. That's why Opera is 100% in Acid3 (and Safari4 and Chrome).

...THEN waste days making it work in IE.

You claim to know web developers' preferences, but you don't. They want web-standard, functional capabilities to code & simplify cross-browser compatibility. Making sites work in Opera, Safari4 and Chrome is an oxymoron...they just all work with minimal tweaking because of their adherence to web standards. That's why IE will never be web-standard...or fake it like they are with IE8.

WhanyungbinWHANYUNGBIN # Wednesday, December 30, 2009 3:43:58 AM

Nice.

Benben2talk # Wednesday, December 30, 2009 8:47:33 AM

Originally posted by Michaelb:

What I really wish for is that the system would just work. It seems to me that increasingly pages that used to work simply don't anymore.

But there aren't any problems with Gmail and Ymail apps now - Wave is a pig, but apart from those, what sites are you talking about? I can't find anything that won't work in Opera now (except for apps like Feedly that need plugins or something...)

Originally posted by Michaelb:

I have used, and championed Opera since v6. I paid for it when it is was an option to do so.

You can pay for Premium support if you feel the desire to offer money.

Originally posted by Michaelb:

Increasingly I have to click on "Open with Other..."

Yes, I love this feature - it's really good - open another tab in any browser you like. Unique to Opera, and one killer function that makes life much easier if you want to do Youtube with Firefox, or open a mail page in Chromium. Other browsers are better for some things, so Opera is an ideal starter - and shouldn't try to hem you in.

Originally posted by Michaelb:

Make it an "addon" if that is what needs to happen.

I agree - the inability and lack of choice to render opera unuseable by playing with add-ons is more of a bug than a security feature to me.

Originally posted by Michaelb:

Anyway... Forget the speed. That is fine. Make it work. Please.

Well for me, it works fine with all sites - not sure about that - but functionality is going to fall behind Chromium and Firefox for me - because of the ability to CHOOSE to add-on some functionality, or choose to use it clean and simple. I can even add on scripts and functions to my file browser - so Opera is looking a little too rigid to me right now.

You say 'forget about speed' - did you try to open Wave in Chromium, Firefox, and Opera? It's really slow if the browser isn't really fast. Next up, as soon as I start scrolling pages, I jump out of Firefox into Chrome or Opera because they're pretty fast - except with Firefox 3.7 which is smoother than Opera 10.10 . . .

Be careful what you wish for.