Opera is Free, So who Cares?
I'm sure most everyone has heard by now that the Opera browser is a free download now and that Opera has removed all ad banners. But my question is who really cares? I mean what's the big deal? We already have Firefox that is free and cross-platform compatible. So do we really need another browser in the mix? As near as I can tell Firefox has nearly all of the same features that Opera has and if Firefox doesn't have something that Opera does you can more than likely download an extension for it. So why would you want to use Opera when it adds another browser to the mix that you have to check to make sure your CSS works with? And the last time I checked, Opera required almost as many hacks in the CSS for it to work as Internet Explorer.
After downloading and trying Opera this morning I have also discovered that TinyMCE doesn't seem to work in Opera, which is what we use in our College's CMS and is also what Wordpress is now using.
Related tags: Browsers, Opera
- Save this article for later, bookmark it!
- del.icio.us digg newsvine blinklist magnolia
Comments are closed.
Comments have been close for this post.
Comments
Short answer: Yes.
Somewhat short answer: Opera is smaller and faster than Firefox, and comes with most features people need out of the box. Firefox is bigger, slower (especially UI wise), and you have to rely on buggy third party software (extensions) to get more functionality.
Sure you can add Opera-like features to Firefox, but what's the point? Why waste lots of time with buggy and incompatible extensions that stop working when you upgrade, when you can have the real thing without any hassle?
Not to mention the fact that Opera has a far better security record than Firefox.
Because more and more people will be using Opera, and you are just painting yourself into a corner by ignoring a standards compliant browser that looks to gain a lot of new users with this move.
No more than Firefox. Actually, Opera's CSS support is better than Firefox's.
Rick,
A.) Opera is smaller but there is only just a little over a megs difference. Big Deal! B.) I haven't seen any benchmarks but my guess is that if Opera is faster than Firefox the speed differences are negligible at best. I didn't notice any speed gain when using Opera.
When looking at the Opera website I only saw one feature that Opera had that Firefox didn't have and that was voice.
We will just have to wait and see on that one. I'm not sure Opera can catch up to the amount of people using Firefox. But you never know.
When you consider that in a download about a megabyte smaller than Firefox they include an email client, a news client and an aggregator, it is a lot smaller. I wonder what would it be like if they'd offer a download for just the browser.
So you got there two more features that Opera has out-of-the-box, besides voice. In fact, voice support requires an extra download. Other features are: better skin support (Firefox needs to be restarted when you switch skins). Themes and extensions in Firefox broke when you upgrade, then you have to wait for all those third-party extension providers to update their extensions to the new Firefox version. Also form controls within pages get the look of the active skin. In Firefox this is not so, and particularly Firefox in Linux is so ugly.
And regarding speed, you might not notice the difference in a broadband connection, because download sizes are too small when browsing ordinary pages, and with this small sizes in broadband it is negligible. But I browse the old way, via modem, and believe me, it is extraordinarily faster.
Downloads in Firefox cannot span several browsing sessions. When you attempt to close the browser it warns that unfinished downloads will be aborted. In Opera this is not so.
Finally, the UI is faster and more responsive in Opera. And is also more customizable. You can put almost any button within almost any toolbar, and you can get toolbars in any place you like, without restarting (the Firefox way). Sidebars are not confined to the left side.
Just wondering how Opera manages to speed up browsing via dialup. I love Opera but don't have a dialup connection to do any testing :) With dialup the bottleneck will obviously be the bandwidth over the modem. No matter which browser you use, the same amount of data must be transferred. Does Opera perhaps download all of the HTML and render it first before requesting images whereas FF starts downloading images while the HTML is still coming?
Don't ask me, I am just telling you what I perceive. But experience tells me that when resources are limite (e.g. Dial-up) is when you can really see efficiency. If you have unlimited resources (e.g. Broadband) anyone can be fast.
The following is perhaps related. I've noted that Opera's cache works better. I suppose all Firefox users have noted a better experience with Firefox's back button. In IE I think that the complete previous page is loaded. In Firefox is much faster, because it uses almost all the locally cached page. Well, in Opera this is even much better.
I've always believed that Opera's slogan is not just a slogan, but a reality: The fastest browser on earth. Not to mention the rest of the advantages. At the end is maybe just a matter of taste. What I will never understand is a preference to IE. I can't stand it anymore.
Ernesto,
I see no real references to back your clams. Do you have any references to back your clams?
Look, the fact is that Opera is smaller, faster, and more functional than Firefox out of the box. Unless you are an open-source fanatic (which most people aren't), it basically comes down to whether you want everything ready (yet not in your face) when installing it, or if you want to spend ages bolting on buggy third party extensions to get functionality.
It's your choice.
But don't pretend that Opera doesn't kick Firefox's ass in several areas, one of which being small, tight and efficient code. Opera fits on mobiles after all. Firefox doesn't.
Regarding speed:
http://www.howtocreate.co.uk/browserSpeed.html
Yes, I know FF 1.5 is coming, but so is Opera 9.
Who cares about Opera? Apparently millions are eager to try it.
Don't dismiss Opera just because you prefer something else.
The same can be said for you… Don’t just dismiss Firefox because you prefer something else. All the extensions I’ve tried have worked flawlessly. And have you seen Opera’s code? How do you know it’s more efficient? Just because the binary installation file is small doesn’t mean you have good code. I’ve see a lot of crappy code in small files.
I didn’t just dismiss Opera! I downloaded and I’m trying it. And so far I’m not that impressed.
And regarding the website you sent… The speed differences where minor, fractions of seconds.