Opera sync feature and comparison with existing sync methods

Opera sync feature and comparison with existing sync methods

Opera sync feature is really a cool one and I was thinking of better ways to spread the word ahead of the full version release. Does anyone know any source or anyone can make a good comparison of opera sync with other methods such as foxmark,google sync or other bookmark sync methods?

How can we convince users easily with simple example/comparison that opera link stand out from others? Official opera page about opera link or sync feature lacks that convincing power and it is more like description of what it is. I personally think for attracting new users, this need to highlight its relative advantages compared to what already existing in the web.

My fear came true when I was telling one of my friend about opera's new sync feature. He just said "its not new, firefox has it and google and many other has this".
Does opera has an article to describe it coolness over existing? How to do publicity on this new thing for opera9.5 if we can't find a good source to refer to when someone ask you the hard question?

Opera needs to be innovative in marketing not only in products. The same thing happended with fraud protection. Not much attractive for users as they thoguht IE/FF had it already. Opera need to step up otherwise the myth will follow that either opera is catching up with others or simply doing the same as other have done.I know this is not true. But opera has to demostrate its strength.

Your friend's right, though. There are other services for syncing bookmarks with other browsers, and they've been around for a while. Some points:

• Opera Link is built into the browser, not an extension. Whether this is good of bad depends on your priorities. (Advantage to being built-in: stability, always available. Advantage to extensions: choose between different services.)
• Opera Link will sync between the desktop and phone browsers. This, I think, is the key issue where comparisons to Google, De.licio.us, etc. are concerned.
• You can access those bookmarks through a web interface. (AFAIK, Google Browser Sync can't do this. On the other hand, Delicious started as only this.)

Google Browser Sync can actually handle more stuff (cookies, history, saved passwords, etc.), but it can't handle two browsers being signed on at the same time. You have to log out on one machine befor eyou log in on another.

All told, it's pretty much the same as syncing Safari with a .Mac account, except that .Mac costs money and a My Opera account is free. It looks like desktop-to-iPhone sync is possible through iTunes, but desktop-to-desktop sync seems to require an account.

I think Kelson's points are very good, and exactly what I would have come up with. Only other thing I would add is an expansion on the "built into the browser, not an extension" point: Opera does not require the user to install a 3rd party toolbar.

What you say here hits right into the spot - it is indeed a little confusing on how exactly we differ in the solution we'd like to offer. Although the 9.5beta launch publicized it already, there is much more to be done into marketing it. Personally, I'm not happy with what the opera.com pages have to say about it, yet.

Of course, this is partially due to the service still being worked on, actively, with some important changes coming up every now and then. There's a lot we'd like to add, at which point it should look a lot different than the "bookmark sync" that everyone else already has.

Oh, and really, the idea behind the whole browser sync thing is quite old - ever saw Netscape's roaming profiles thingy? We aren't trying to be them, nor firefox, nor google bookmark sync, nor delicious. They all have features to offer, some of which are better, some worse, some totally lacking and all in all - different. I hope that'll start to show soon.

And I want my bookmarks on my wii too.

Originally posted by TheAtilla:

There's a lot we'd like to add, at which point it should look a lot different than the "bookmark sync" that everyone else already has.

Are customisations and settings on the list?

Originally posted by TheAtilla:

Personally, I'm not happy with what the opera.com pages have to say about it, yet.

Thanks Atilla for your kind participation and thoughts on this.
You just said the best part of it. This was my major point that like in the past, opera marketing has failed to really boost the great product. It was never spot on. If you look at the older posts, I was writing tirelessly about putting opera fraud protection advertisement upfront before the version is released. Then someone from opera posted that they don't put features in opera pages which is not out yet. I was so surprised. Now it has changed and opera has started putting things in advance to create a buzz. But still not enough. I still think there is a large browser user base who haven't even heard of opera and some even started using firefox mostly due to buzz on the net and peers. There are many other marketing issues(infact weaknesses in my view) which I think opera did not do well in the past, still not doing well and don't see any plans described for doing it better in future. Only difference in there marketing strategy I have seen is that some activities(like re-designing homepage,creating different user groups in different places, operawatch seemed more intuitive etc) since Lawmune started participating in the forums.

We will get there, but as explained above, Link is still a work in progress. I don't think it's ready enough yet for us to be posting a comparison chart or anything like that, but I do agree that we should be highlighting how it is different from existing services in one way or another. I certainly mention things like what Kelson listed when I talk to people at events or one-on-one. While it's not always appropriate content for opera.com, I'd love to see more articles discussing how Opera does things compared to other products, such as RSS, email, SVG support, synchronizing data, customizability, etc. This is something I encourage users to do on their own blogs, and if you contact Daniel Goldman, he might be willing to post such an article on Opera Watch.

I will be the first to admit that Opera is not always the first choice when it comes to specific services like synching and RSS. People online have different needs, and sometimes they choose a non-Opera solution, which is fine. We just want to let more people know that we are offering an alternative solution that might fit the needs of some (and hopefully many) users.

Lawmune thanks for your input here and I understand what you are saying. But as I mentioned in previous post, Opera seem to miss the right timing for showing up its new version and create enough buzz or interest in the web. Happened to version 9, hopefully will not happen with version 9.5 or 10.

To reiterate what you're saying: we need to release the right product at the right time, providing what people need at the moment they need it. Of course, that's very difficult to achieve. We did a pretty good job with Opera Mini 4 beta 1, which came out right before the iPhone launch, but we will continue to get better.

thanks

Originally posted by Lawmune:

we need to release the right product at the right time, providing what people need at the moment they need it.

That is impossible... I bet there is a very long "To-Do" list for Kestrel, & most of it are the requests from ages ago requested by users...

Opera is not Fx, which anyone can just create a plugin based on others request immediately, thus the best strategy for Opera would be put more effort in PR & Marketing department...

Perhaps, but I've never tried new software if it hadn't been recommended to me by someone. Opera included.

Originally posted by dude09:

That is impossible... I bet there is a very long "To-Do" list for Kestrel, & most of it are the requests from ages ago requested by users...Opera is not Fx, which anyone can just create a plugin based on others request immediately, thus the best strategy for Opera would be put more effort in PR & Marketing department.

You're right, but I'm not talking about specific features requested by individuals. I'm referring more to bigger trends in terms of what the marketplace (as a whole) wants and is interested in.

For example, a lot of people were very interested in the iPhone release and became generally curious about browsing full webpages on cell phones. The timing of Opera Mini 4's first beta release coincided nicely with this interest, and we were able to offer (at the right time) the browsing experience that people wanted.

Obviously, it's hard to get the timing just right. Our development and release schedules are not timed precisely with events and trends in the marketplace, which are often unpredictable anyway. There's definitely some luck involved. That said, we can't afford to ignore what the big trends are in terms of what people need, and simply rely on marketing and PR to convince people that what they need is whatever our engineers have been working on. We have to pay attention and do careful research to make sure we're meeting the needs of both our existing users and people who will see Opera's worth in the future. The world of Web technology is very fast-moving, so we try to be flexible while staying true to our vision.

More explanantion of opera sync is needed in this opera link page. Info like which way it synchronizes (like if some one has updated bookmark in pc or in the link, how it is synced), how often it is done, is it instantaneous, what happened when some one fresh installs opera and does file>synchronize (will he get the bookmarks immediately) and so on. There should be complete FAQ for very silly to very good questions. May be a tutorial or demo would be nice so that user can feel it before even trying opera.

I agree! Something like a good how-to video should do a great job. Just like the OM how-to video.

hello,
i just made a my opera user just to try out the sync thing.
i've done it a lot ago, and never could find how to sync, all i found was a web wich let me add a bookmark manually.
and i thought, "this sucks, you have to put them on a web and visit that web to see the links?"
i've entered several times to that web (wich is this :http://www.opera.com/products/link/) and was always the same.
but just now i read someone said "File->synchronize" and there was what i was looking fore
maybe the link web should say it clearly. i'm not a dumm i'm a soft dev, but i never use the file menu.
and i guess i simpli miss that simple instruction.

(btw the transaltion to spanish has an error there. (says "esos" should say "estos" say "Acceo Rápido" should say "Acceso Rápido"))