My OperaSo I am done with Firefox
Saturday, February 20, 2010 6:09:42 AM
I was an Opera user since version 3 or thereabout, in 2001, and versions 7.54 and 9.23 were the last Opera versions I used, up to the end of 2007. Opera was a truly innovative browser, with Opera Mail M2 and with a totally customizable browser. I learned a lot on the forums. My "I use Opera" line was "because it resonates with the Intelligence of the Universe."
Why did I leave? Short and sweet: there were too many web pages that I visited regularly that Opera didn't handle well. It wasn't really Opera's fault. Web developers were not testing their code with all browsers, and many new developments were not code compliant. That's what I remember. I started to use two browsers concurrently, but it disrupted the flow of browsing. I felt it was time to move on, whatever the reasons, Opera wasn't keeping up with the fast developments on the web.
Here's a screenshot comparing Opera (left) with IE (right) in November 2007:
Comes 2010, and I am back to Opera after 3 years of Firefox. Also very customizable, I thought I had mainstreamed myself for good with Firefox. But FF has been increasingly slow. Running on only one of my two hard drives on a Raid 0 set up since August 2009, I finally replaced the faulty HD two weeks ago, reinstalled my operating system and created a new profile in Firefox. Everything ran fast the first week, but after some add-ons in Firefox, which are supposed to enhance my browsing experience, it began, for some sites, to process slower than ever.
I realized that I like Firefox because of its add-ons and customizable toolbars, but it's not worth staring at those while my pages are not loading. And without them, I am not sure what the browser is really worth to me either. As a last resort I minimized the browser history and kept everything cleared upon closing the browser. But some pages that I visit for work continuously kept loading so slow while Chrome was loading them fast, that I decided "that's it!"
I spent half a day setting up my new Opera browser with several IMAP and POP mail accounts, bookmarks, contacts, downloading some new buttons, logged into my old forums account and even added my two cents to a password manager problem, and all went very speedily. I am surprised I remember so much about setting up and customizing Opera!
There is a lot more to say and a lot more to do to make Opera my browser. But it remains to be seen this time around how much I want to get attached again. I am feeling that I may want to keep it simple. But for nostalgic reasons, here's a screenshot of my customized Opera browser of late 2007:
I'll write a blog to keep a record of my Opera experiences. I am glad to be back! So far Opera browser 10.10 runs like a train, but I have to iron out some M2/Gmail/imap issues.
Why did I leave? Short and sweet: there were too many web pages that I visited regularly that Opera didn't handle well. It wasn't really Opera's fault. Web developers were not testing their code with all browsers, and many new developments were not code compliant. That's what I remember. I started to use two browsers concurrently, but it disrupted the flow of browsing. I felt it was time to move on, whatever the reasons, Opera wasn't keeping up with the fast developments on the web.
Here's a screenshot comparing Opera (left) with IE (right) in November 2007:
Comes 2010, and I am back to Opera after 3 years of Firefox. Also very customizable, I thought I had mainstreamed myself for good with Firefox. But FF has been increasingly slow. Running on only one of my two hard drives on a Raid 0 set up since August 2009, I finally replaced the faulty HD two weeks ago, reinstalled my operating system and created a new profile in Firefox. Everything ran fast the first week, but after some add-ons in Firefox, which are supposed to enhance my browsing experience, it began, for some sites, to process slower than ever.
I realized that I like Firefox because of its add-ons and customizable toolbars, but it's not worth staring at those while my pages are not loading. And without them, I am not sure what the browser is really worth to me either. As a last resort I minimized the browser history and kept everything cleared upon closing the browser. But some pages that I visit for work continuously kept loading so slow while Chrome was loading them fast, that I decided "that's it!"
I spent half a day setting up my new Opera browser with several IMAP and POP mail accounts, bookmarks, contacts, downloading some new buttons, logged into my old forums account and even added my two cents to a password manager problem, and all went very speedily. I am surprised I remember so much about setting up and customizing Opera!
There is a lot more to say and a lot more to do to make Opera my browser. But it remains to be seen this time around how much I want to get attached again. I am feeling that I may want to keep it simple. But for nostalgic reasons, here's a screenshot of my customized Opera browser of late 2007:
I'll write a blog to keep a record of my Opera experiences. I am glad to be back! So far Opera browser 10.10 runs like a train, but I have to iron out some M2/Gmail/imap issues.
Ichann # Tuesday, June 22, 2010 11:33:21 AM
Unregistered user # Tuesday, November 30, 2010 3:01:03 PM