Comments on: Happy birthday, Opera--you survived

CNET News.com's Charles Cooper says the browser company's success could be a case study for marketing mavens about how boring can be better.

[dcis_steve]

Opera's good - but not that good

When it comes to browser alternatives to IE, Opera and Mozilla (Firefox) are the main players. However, anyone who has used both browsers can tell you that Opera has serious rendering problems with many popular web sites; a problem that Firefox doesn't have.

I think that competition in the browser market is crucial to keeping everyone on their toes and developing improved versions, but Opera is the only one who charges for their browser. Personally, I think it's amazing that they've lasted this long.

Opera IS that good

I've tried the rest, I use Opera 8 - previous versions didn't have as intuitive a GUI. But now it's better.

Yes there are rendering problems (not serious IMO) - Firefox ALSO has problems.

In the end, I'm not going to tell others what to use. But I will continue with Opera & have IE for those times I MUST use it.

Happy anniversary - if Firefox is still around in 10 years, maybe it'll be king then.

In my benchmark test - starting the browser on my homepage (customised My Yahoo page), Opera was fastest, followed by Firefox & IE was slowest. After the page was up, Opera relased most of it's 18Mb, Firefox released a little bit & IE, well.....what do you expect from IE.

Same old rhetoric...

Anyone who really understands this stuff knows that most of the problems with Opera are due to the ineptitude of certain (most) web designers. It's not perfect, but it's problems are nothing when compared to that infernal pile of junk produced by "a company whose R&D budget dwarfs the gross domestic product of many nations."

A healthy portion of innovation in the browser market can be directly traced to Opera. Some people are willing to pay a bit extra for quality.

[ded63]

Oh please

Opera renders GOOD code, it doesn't rely on activeX. It's css handling is better than any browser...the guy who developed css WORKS for Opera.

I really despise it when people complain about Opera's rendering issues. It's not Opera that has the issue.

As far as paying for it? It's worth every penny and then some.

Another Opera fan...

Frankly, I dont agree with the contention that one has to pay for Opera... Opera is available for free, although with a banner on top right corner. This banner does not display anything but a "Buy Opera today" ad. I can live with it for everything else that Opera gives me (speed, stability, flexibility, etc. etc.)

I have been using Opera for 2 years now and frankly, I cannot surf without those mouse gestures anymore! After using Opera one realizes how easy it is to manifest 'convenience' using digital technology (and I havent even started talking about speed!). Everything else seems a little primitive after the Opera experience!

Opera's rendering problem

i wonder why anyone realizes this. how could a browser be considered good, if it fails to do what it's meant to?

[Philips]

Reminds me of Apple

Opera reminds me of Apple.

Apple has to innovate all the time just to maintain the status of "cool" company.

Both companies products have healthy markets consisting mostly of professionals of various kinds. And both companies successfully managed to create strong user communities.

[vinczej]

Opera is really for users

I used all the Windows platform browsers (IE,NS,Mozilla,FF,OPera,IE shells like Maxthon,Slimbrowser,Avant), and I can say, that I had pleasant with some of those. Some have pretty functions, interesting add-ons,extensions. But nothing to compare to Operas flexibility and comfort. I can fell with it to be in the mainstream of the innovation. And the Opera communtity is the most effective and helpful group.

[EmbSysPro]

Very fast browser with a nice, clean interface

I have IE, FireFox and Opera installed on my machine and while I use a web browser to visit web sites, my main use these days are for manipulating multiple pages of multiple API docs while I am doing development work.

I usally have NetBeans, Acrobat, Word, Visio and Orcad also open at the same time. So for me having a small memory footprint, good speed and a clean multitabbed interface are important requirements.

Thus for my needs Opera is the best browser.

[Tom CyBold]

"Lend Credence"

"I usually don't lend credence to those sorts of statements," writes Mr. Cooper, in response to the phrase "there are security issues with [Explorer]." He is apparently trying to sound measured and fair, to be cautious about criticizing Microsoft, but then he himself goes on to say, "But Microsoft is far from overcoming its security struggles . . . All the while, security breaches involving Microsoft's browser continue." If anything, the author's criticism is more strident than the person he was responding to, so I'm not sure what problem he has "lending credence."

"And some folks just plainly hate Microsoft no matter what," he adds. Well, yes, some folks do, Mr. Cooper, because Microsoft keeps publishing costly, ugly, non-innovative, poorly designed, intellectually ripped-off, virus-prone crud no matter what.

Opera Really Is That Good

I've been using Opera since version 5 and have never had to worry about a virus or worm in that time. It has been a struggle to get web masters to code for Opera and Opera didn't always support the best and brightest. But that has changed. Opera 8 is better than Mozilla or obviously IE. Surf with Opera 8 and you are safe from the attacks on IE and Mozilla and if you are of slightly less than a challenged geek. All of the web.

[Andrew J Glina]

Wow

Just one bad comment. I have downloaded Opera I just have not got around to installing it. I tried Firefox but I got sick of it crashing on me almost every day. Thus I am back with IE and missing tabbed browsing. (The MSN toolbar thing is horrid and unstable.) I look forward to joining the club.

[Andrew J Glina]

Sitrep 1

Opera is going good. Only problem noted so far is the forums on Codeproject do not work as well as on IE and Firefox.

[Raife]

Its just a good Browser...

I have used, and do use, a lot of different browsers. But, "Opera" is the one I always seem to fire-up now. In fact, it is the one I have "pinned" to the top of my "Start Menu".

The Security-problems in "IE" are just too many to ignore. And, though I also use "Firefox", "Opera 8" is always my first choice these days, especially on my Linux-box.

Its fast. It just works. Its simple. It has all the features I want. And, I havent noticed any issues or problems since I installed "version-8".

So, its just a good choice for Browsing. And, in my opinion, these should be the criteria for any "recommended" software.

[dillergaff]

Opera and advertisements

I have Opera installed, and on occasion try it.

I use Firefox, adblock makes pages advertisement free

Is there an extension or whatever for Opera ? If so, it seems to be a secret as I haven't seen mention of it.

Exanple, I click my bookmark for http://news.com.com/ In Firefox I see NO advertisements.

I open the same link In the latest Opera I installed a couple days ago, there are 3 advertisements wasting my screen space :(

Now, I imported my "Netscape bookmarks", There are 15 sites in my "bookmarks toolbar folder". BUT, Opera shows only 10 sites, the other 5 are gone to never-never-land ?

I try another site, NO advertisements in Firefox. Opera, 4 adverts, animated annoying .gif's :(

I click my "web cams" folder, has links to 7 cams. in Opera I click "open all folder items". Activity and I see ONE cam, the others are nowhere to be seen. I see no "tabs". This is a new clean install with no preferences changed from defaults.

Speed... I try http://www.download.com I count to "one-thousand-and-five" till Opera had the page (full of ads) loaded. I try the same page in Firefox, the page is loaded at "one-thousand-and-two" with NO ads. (am on 5 meg adsl)

actually I have never before paid attention to speed between browsers and a bit suprised by that result. Speed on most sites seems equal tho.

I goto http://www.confederationbridge.com/bridge/bridgecam100_7.asx

Firefox starts xine and I watch traffic on the bridge

I click the same link in Opera. After some prompts, I choose open rather than download, but it appears I have downloaded the bridgecam file and am now on a "download screen". No back to Opera browser, I doubleclick the file I had told it to open and am again asked to open the file I did NOT want saved to disk (it is streaming video, not a 572b file) kfmclient.exe and a player opens, I click play in that player and get error, unable to create io-slave. Looks like Opera does not handle "Media Player" files by default. Nothing to do but close the download screen and Opera seems to be gone as well.

duh

Opera is the best

I've been using Opera for about 4 years now and I know more than anyone that it seriously overpowers IE any day. However, it does have trouble with some websites, not that many, but every once in a while you have to open the site in IE in order to visit it. You can buy the Ad-Free version, but all this time I just use the ad one. They only put a SMALL bar at the top of the browser that you really don't even notice. It even helps me find what I'm looking for some of the time. Go Opera!!

[Mendz]

I like Opera...

... though I still tend to use MS IE. I don't know why... But I agree that Opera is better.

I like it that it has a mobile version with unique mobile rendering capabilities. I like it that it has mouse gestures. I like it that it renders fast. I like it that it is more secured.

Sigh... So why am I still using MS IE?

Bad habits are hard to break?

Congratulations to Opera's 10th year!!!

[djugan]

Respecting the customers' privacy.....

that's always been a hallmark of the folks from Opera.

Perhaps, the culture of our Norwegian friends refreshingly encourages them to practice a variation of capitalism that is much less obtrusive (savage?) than we've come to expect in the States.

Opera is a great product and you can trust them to refrain from picking your pockets or mugging you for a short-term gain.