Monday, October 19, 2009 7:57:40 PM
Unite, opera
Interesting and thoughtful review of Opera v10 with Unite Apps by Charles Moore at Applelinks.
I think many people will be surprised as great Opera Unite apps start to get released by the developer community. Since Opera doesn't lock-in users, all of these cool Unite apps will allow any browser users to quickly share photos and sample music privately (or, for example,
collaborate on a group spreadsheet, etc...).
Opera's Unite Server Framework (aka "Yusef") will allow easy, flexible, web-standard development.

In fact, just as with
Opera's history of innovation, I expect to see
Opera Unite apps incorporated into other browsers or web services over time...
Sunday, September 27, 2009 8:16:43 PM
chrome, opera, wave
I noticed the interesting release about Google Chrome Frame plug-in for IE. Very sneaky and really clever. I'm eager to try out
Google Wave when it debuts, but did anyone else notice the browser-choice pop-up when an IE user points to Google Wave...?
What's wrong with this picture?
Opera isn't listed as a super-fast, standards-based, easy-to-code-for, advanced browser in the browser-choice pop-up... Lame. (It's not as if the inventor of CSS,
Håkon Wium Lie, works at Opera...
oh, wait, he does.) This used to be a
problem with another huge company in the past.
While all's fair in love & war, web interoperability is critically important to browser users (
whether they know it or not), web developer ease,
browser-maker sanity, and ensuring the
beneficial, not detrimental, network effects of the Internet as a whole.
Meanwhile, a
Google spokesperson replied to The Register saying:
"While we encourage users to use a more modern and standards compliant browser such as Firefox, Safari, OPERA or Google Chrome rather than a plug-in, for those who don't, Google Chrome Frame is designed to provide better performance, strong security features, and more choice to both developers and users, across all versions of Internet Explorer."
Saturday, September 19, 2009 1:52:23 AM
opera
Interesting article in BBC about Opera raising awareness of their innovative desktop and mobile browsers in the US & Canada. Opera CEO, Jon von Tetzchner, is in the US and consider their options on how to make it happen.


Given Opera's giant share in
Russia (36%),
Ukraine (43%) and other countries, I've always found it strange that more users don't take advantage of Opera in the U.S., given its user-friendly benefits (too many to name now).

Advertising can't be the reason because how can Russians or Ukrainians perceive Opera to be so great with zero advertising? I mean, 43% -- FORTY-THREE -- of Ukrainians actually went out of their way to download Opera for a better, faster web experience...instead of using the default IE browser (no Apple presence there yet, it seems).
Any ideas why? If you're in Russia or Ukraine, would love to hear the Opera buzz there.
Saturday, September 12, 2009 4:02:31 AM
google, opera
A fun revelation by our favorite Googler, David Bloom. When adding a link into a Gmail msg, Opera is the
only browser that supports URL auto-complete, in the rich-text editor.
Just write an email in Gmail, and click on the LINK button in the editor toolbar and try it out.

Gotta
love a standards-based browser like Opera, no?

If you want to get the coolest web features in your browser, while making it RIDICULOUSLY
easier for millions of web developers...
try using Opera more. They'll all appreciate it.
Sunday, September 6, 2009 7:09:13 PM
opera
Interesting post at
NYT by Mr. Hansell talking about
Opera's strategy for fast browser access everywhere, with Opera's venerable CEO, Jon von Tetzchner.

Sounds like he needs to
check out Opera v10 again now.

When you're using Opera on different devices,
Opera Link binding all your Opera instances together is HUGE, if you haven't turned it ON yet. Having your bookmarks, nicknames, history, personal bar, Opera Notes, Speed Dial settings, and search engines is super handy...on your desktop, your laptop, your netbook,
your Blackberry or other phone,
your TV via Nintendo Wii.
Wednesday, June 10, 2009 11:01:28 PM
turbo, opera, site patching

Good overview of
Opera v10 beta by Jim Rapoza at eWeek.
His opening paragraph is exactly right, and shows that he knows the history of web browser design:
Ever wonder what features will be found in the next generation of Web browsers? Well, usually there’s one easy way to find out: Just check out the latest version of Opera.
Opera may not be the best known or most used Web browser out there, but, over the years, it has been one of the most innovative. Often, features that become mainstays across browsers appeared first in Opera.
You can see from
Opera's history of innovation, for example, that original tabs were invented by Opera in March 2000 in Opera v4.0...and now comes Visual Tabs. (Don't forget that Tab Thumbnails were added by Opera long time ago also. Just hover your cursor over the Opera Tab Bar and watch what happens. You may need to
check this box first.)

Opera added a search field in the toolbar WAY BACK in Dec. 2000...!
And now, we'll see how long until
intelligent auto-Turbo is added by other (desktop & mobile) browsers to minimize flakey WIFI or slow connections.

Remember to set Opera Turbo to AUTO; then it'll only come ON when you need it (and turn itself OFF when your connection speeds up -- or after you complain to your internet provider).
Try Opera 10 Beta with
all the new goodies here.
Tuesday, June 2, 2009 11:57:20 PM
opera
The
new Visual Tab bar in Opera v10 beta looks cool and with be very useful for many new Opera users just discovering how much easier the Web is when using Opera...

Twitter is definitely
a-flutter with Opera tweets.
Thursday, April 30, 2009 3:21:34 AM
opera
I first discovered Opera around 2001, I think. I remember using
Opera v4.0 on Windows 98; and paying for
Opera v5.0 on a
tangerine Apple iBook G3 with Mac OS 9...and, of course, I never looked back.

I've never wasted time with typing WWW or .COM, or closed tabs that I couldn't re-open (or having Tabs, at all!), or wasting time because it took 5x longer for a web site to come up, or save a session of 10 tabs to follow-up with next week, or a million other advantages by using Opera...for NINE YEARS now.

Here's a great site that show's
Opera innovations, past & present. The cool thing, when you use Opera, is that you can assume and expect that the other browsers will continue to follow by adding Opera's innovations. Lately, I've been playing with the
Opera v10-alpha with Turbo...and it's very cool!
Let me repeat something important about how Opera is faster & easier for you. I have not typed WWW or .COM in my browser address bar since 2001, when I switched to Opera. Don't you wish you had, too...?
You can, in one minute.


Happy Birthday to the great team at Opera worldwide...and to
Jon, Geir, and
Håkon for getting it all started.