Comments on: Opera CEO: Chrome has been very good for us

Competing products make people question the status quo, Jon von Tetzchner says, and that drives people to Opera.

[joetesta70]

Opera is great, so is Firefox and IE8, but Chrome...not living up to the hype - the "sandbox" fgeature crashed on me the very first day! Some sandbox.

PS No Mac support for Chrome cause it's only 3% market share or something like that.

[eltoro2827]

loved ie8 ...but fell in love with firefox

[hafenbrack]

How could you have "loved" IE8 and then fell in love with Firefox? There hasn't even been a final release candidate for IE8 yet...

[morlamweb]

@hafenbrack: they have released two betas of IE8, you know...

[spydrlink]

I'm using Opera right now, just recently switched to a Mac from Windows. My wife uses Firefox (which I prefer heavily) but she likes it more...and the lack of multiple profile switching in Firefox is why I started using Opera. So far, I like Opera to an extent. I love the speed! Superfast compared to FF in my opinion. But the lack of "extensions" and ease of installing extensions drive me nuts. The other thing is the lack of tab control options. On FF, I use TabMix Plus...can't beat it. Opera doesn't seem to have that much in the way of tab control. If they have extensions (not widgets) then I haven't found them yet or they're very well hidden.

But I don't think Opera will ever gain market share unless it starts making development into the browser with extensions dirt simple and easy to find.

[plings]

Most people don't use extensions. And Opera has most of the useful Firefox extensions already installed and properly integrated.

[highlander2000]

I agree with plings. Most people don't use extensions. If you want to completely mod your browser by patchworking so many extensions, firefox is the way. But, I believe Opera is the better web browser out of the box. Also, I don't think Opera's lack of market share is related to lack of extensions. I think it's a lack of marketing on their end, lack of proper reviewing on tech sources' (such as CNET's) end, and lack of awareness on users end. For instance, the latest browser comparo did not feature Opera. I can also remember in the past when the former TechTV wrote-off Opera as just a copycat of Mozilla, of which they were enamored because they thought Mozilla invented tabbed browsing, when it's really the other way around.

[Efrow]

Opera is my favorite browser.

[Efrow]

Opera is my favorite browser. I've used it since 3.6. I love being able to install it and set it up the way I want within about 60 seconds, with all my bookmarks synched, speed dial set up, and intuitive and easy mouse shortcuts all ready the way I want them. Yes, Firefox can kind of do what I want here, but it takes much longer to set up, searching and configuring all the plugins, and the mouse shortcut plugins do not compare at all for my needs. I still have Firefox since I can't get flash working consistently in Opera under 64-bit Ubuntu, and some sites work better under Firefox, but I'd much, much rather be browsing with Opera all the time if I could.

The innovator is often not the one to come out on top, and this is unfortunately the case with Opera. People used to roll their eyes when I talked about tabbed browsing and mouse shortcuts..."why not just use IE? what's the difference?". Then along came Firefox, and attitudes started to change.

Now it's all pretty standard. But I will remain a user until I can get the Firefox interface how I want it, and quickly and efficiently too. That seems unlikely.

[highlander2000]

I totally agree with everything you've mentioned efrow. The former TechTV was notorious for giving Opera the shaft when it came to introducing tabbed browsing, and instead showered Mozilla/FF with all the praise for being slower and less customizable (interfacially).

Also, what you've mentioned about the bookmarks resonates with me. As a pharmacy student, I have to keep track of a prodigious number of resources and links, and Opera (and only Opera) has allowed me to neatly and completely organize them. A -total- lifesaver.

[anujbux]

Opera rocks!!!

Fire Fox was just hyped by Google, otherwise it has/ever had nothing to compare with Opera.
I never miss any extentions on opera that FireFox user talks about. I think most of the extentions are just for fun, they are no where needed in browsing. If any one find any features that FF(private browsing in my knowled) has and Opera doesn't has then please let us know.

[Charbax]

Chrome is open source. You need to ask Opera how soon Opera is going to integrate the best features of Chrome if needed. Such as the Chrome V8 Javascript Engine, the auto-complete search integrated intelligent URL bar, the multi-process anti-crash system, the faster core and stuff like that. Surely Opera are working on integrating those features in the next Opera, if needed, but how soon will that happen?

[SenatorlYon]

Opera CEO is right. If I did not used chrome I would not have notice the wide range of browsers out there. Firstly, Google Chrome, IT HAVE A MIND OF ITS OWN!!!, yeah :-(. Its interface is cool and all, kinda fast still, but I have a fear of Google. IE is just CRAp, although I use it once in a blue moon.
Firefox I have being using you for years and gotta admit /you have become BORING! or is it me? NOT.

And my adventure began. I tried browsers from A-Z, reading reviews after reviews. The worst thing almost all the browsers are based on IE or Firefox.
There it was Opera a new tool for me to explore as soon as was about give up.

Its ok, but when Firefox is better I will surely run back to it!!!
My entire University body are now using Opera.....
....For Now....

[stigmattaman]

Opera rocks, easily the best. browser