Specifically and personally, I think that Opera is a great tool for fans of those really big swiss-army knives. It's an everything-in-one approach, much like the original Mozilla Suite and Seamonkey, and that totally works for some people. However, the experience can be quite overwhelming for the average Web user. Chris Beard, Slashdot interview

I've never understood this... especially now that Firefox isn't generally thought of as the "bare bones" browser anymore. They are getting more and more feature rich with every release. Further, Opera's features *NEVER* get in the way. With the Swiss Army Knife, you can't get your fingers in there to get at the knife blade because it's wedged between the spoon, saw and screwdrivers. In Opera, that's just not the case at all. I'd at least understand the point if it was being made about a preference dialog or something, but to blanket statement like that (especially when Firefox is heading its way towards "feature rich") is rather odd.


When describing Firefox features, he goes on to say:

For those who don't need it, it's mostly out of the way and costs them nothing in terms of usability. But when you do need it, it's there, and it helps.

...which is exactly how I think of M2 (mail), IRC, Bittorrent,.... in Opera.