Opera 10 takes center stage
Summary: The Opera 10 browser is now ready to download for Windows, Linux, and Mac. The most publicized new feature is Opera Turbo, the browser's much-publicized compression engine for slow-poke connections.
(Credit: Opera Software)
The Opera 10 browser is now ready to download for Windows, Linux, and Mac three months after the beta first emerged.
If you've been keeping up with the beta updates, the final build of the cross-platform browser shouldn't surprise you. Opera Turbo, the browser's much-publicized compression engine for slow-poke connections, remains a feature highlight. Opera claims that Opera Turbo runs the browser up to eight times faster on suffering connections than do competing browsers.
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The refreshed user interface is also noteworthy. Joining the new default skin (changed from version 9.6), are changes to tab bar behavior. The conventional tabs double as thumbnail images. Double-click the thin gray bar below the tabs (indicated by dots) or click and drag to expand open tabs into preview windows that you can navigate by clicking among them.
Other enhancements include an expanded Speed Dial (a feature that has later been adopted and adapted in Google's Chrome browser) that shows more commonly visited Web pages than in previous Opera browsers. You're also able to customize it with a background picture. You'll see that spell check will be applicable to any text field (for 51 languages), and that Opera's incorporated e-mail client takes a page from Google's books by threading e-mail conversations.
Developers get access to a newer version of Opera Dragonfly, the publisher's online development tools, but everyone can benefit from the speedier rendering engine that, according to Opera, makes version 10 up to 40 percent faster than version 9.6--before switching on Turbo's compression.
Despite all the additions that Opera hopes will keep Opera 10 competitive, there are still two notable omissions for this final release. The first is Opera Unite, which uses your browser as a Web server for sharing your content with others. The second is the Carakan JavaScript engine that promises to process JavaScript about 2.5 times as fast as the engine used in Opera 10 alpha.
This article was originally posted on CNET News.
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Talkback
No, thank you.
Not very adventurous
Check it out! Be like Lou Reed. Take a walk on the wild side!
Why not?
'cause I gots Firefox.
Kind of like Vista
Been trying to get used to Chrome, by way of using SRWare's Iron, but it feels too much like being on a self-imposed austerity plan.
Opera does what I need, no fuss, no muss, no bother; until something does it better, I'm using it. (though I try Firefox, Chrome, and Safari all the time, just to see what they have nicked from Opera!)
RE: Opera 10 takes center stage
Boycott Opera!
http://www.jcxp.net/news.php?newsid=2801
What a crock of bull...
I use Opera and think it's brilliant. I can use it on Windows, Linux, OS X etc. If YOU don't like Opera, then no problem. But calling for a BOYCOTT of a company who has what, 2% of the browser market share is just pathetic.
Back to your den Loverock...
Dang...
What a crock..
Hey amigo
Imagination...
What people? Noone that was really using Opera before is now not using it.
"I don't know of anyone who still has opera installed."
What does that even mean? You need a filter?
You don't know OF ANYONE that has Opera installed? Do you ever read any post on here other than your own nonsensical ramblings? Do you just you don't KNOW ANYONE who still has it?
I'd be surprised if you know anyone at all.
I'm hoping that they took off Firefox and Chrome as well
Very open-minded saying NO to one of the best browsers
Don't forget that on mobiles Opera still rules!
I'll pass
Opera will die a slower, miserable death because they showed their true colors.
OPERA NO MORE!
Opera 10 excellent in Beta
The Opera boycott thing is hilarious. I'm guessing it's just hardcore Microsoft fankids, because that's the only reason I can think of. I haven't heard anyone talk about Boycotting Firefox or Google, and they testified against Microsoft, too.
"Stage"? More like "street corner".
Opera does something extraordinary by
1. combining a mail client into the browser. This gives you offline access to your mail, and its very speedy. A new mail generates a polished looking sliding alert in the system tray. Try configuring Gmail into your Opera 10 installation, you just might get pleasantly surprised. Its like having the best of both worlds, offline access to mail and just a click required to open any link, without waiting for a new program to load.
2. providing a small notes application, for those snippets that you want to store but they do not qualify for being bookmarked.
3. a lightweight but efficient feed-reader which actually looks and works better than those in Firefox and IE.
4. a smarter download management strategy - a new download triggers a new tab (if its your first download of the session), and upon completion a slider notification from system tray area appears. Unlike, IE and Firefox, new downloads do not give rise to new Window.
5. allowing full UI customization - you can tweak almost every part of Opera to suit your taste. Try that with Firefox, or IE for that matter.
6. syncing your bookmarks and notes across Opera 10 installations - something Firefox team has been working hard to achieve through project weave.
I know, you can do most of this stuff through add-ons in Firefox, but kudos to Opera for identifying the most useful applications that warrant a default integration with the browser.
Opera has made a lot of innovations in the past but...
2. I already have a notes application. how about making that an addon that I can download and install if I want it. Not only that but adding that just seems like they have run out of innovative ideas.
3. I don't use RSS. Yeah, I guess I am backward or something. Again, how about removing that and making it an addon?
4. The download feature is not bad. However, I have a firefox addon that does downloads so much better and it doesn't create a tab at all. That way that tab doesn't get lost in the middle of the other 20-30 tabs I may have open.
5. I looked at the customization. Like most customizations in the browser market the default is usually the best looking as well as the least cluttered. I think that is why the default is chosen as the default. I did like the add and get web panel feature. Like addons I can get extra panels if I want them.
6. I haven't tried the bookmark syncing yet. However, I don't use bookmarks much anyway. Just faster to start typing the first few letters of the site and have the browser fill in the rest. I haven't used bookmarks in years.
I would like to see less kitchen sinks being thrown in (notes feature) and more features that can be added separately like Firefox addons. Widgets don't feel like the mesh with the browser very well.
It would be nice if it opened with a tab the first time after launch and presented a page with features you can add but are not installed by default that clutter the browser up. That is the customization I want with my browser and seems to be the reason I always use Firefox as my main browser even though I have IE8, Chrome, and Opera 10 installed on my computer.
Just my 2 cents.
Edit: Just to fix some spelling errors
Uh oh, looks like you got it wrong
2. "I already have a notes application." - where does most new info come from - the web, where do you spend your maximum time online - in the browser, does it not make sense to integrate them? especially when with one click i can add any text snippet on web to my notes, instead of switching to a separate application and doing a copy-paste?
3. "I don't use RSS. Yeah, I guess I am backward or something. Again, how about removing that and making it an addon?" Again I will have to supply the same argument that I provided for email. When you use RSS, you will want to check out the complete posts by clicking links, then does it not make sense to have a single application for both, instead of waiting for heavyweights like Firefox or IE to load?
4. "I have a firefox addon that does downloads so much better". And how many people know about that add-on? Does Out Of The Box Experience ring a bell?
5. "I looked at the customization. Like most customizations in the browser market the default is usually the best looking as well as the least cluttered." Opera gives you unprecedented control over customizing every nook and cranny of the browser UI. I for example hide the menu-bar, use panels to the left, modify the address bar animation etc.
6. "I haven't tried the bookmark syncing yet. However, I don't use bookmarks much anyway." - sorry mate, but a lot of people do. And bookmark syncing is a great feature, take your settings where you go, as simple as that.
"I would like to see less kitchen sinks being thrown in" - Okay, then how do you explain Opera taking up less RAM, and starting-up faster than Firefox even with so much "bloat" thrown in? And how about Firefox performing slower after loading add-ons as suggested by you?
Its not about you and me being Opera/Firefox fanboys. Its about giving credit where it is due. The beauty is in identifying just the correct amount of functionality that helps make the user more productive, and implementing it well. Relying on third-party code to provide a case for your application is plain stupid, especially when adding that code, makes your application perform poorer.
Thats my 2 cents.
My view
2. I actually take very little notes off the web. My notes are for quick phone numbers and reminders. The thing about the web is I can find the information so quickly I don't need notes. I have no use for notes in a browser.
3. I am sorry but once Firefox has been loaded it doesn't get shutdown. I have it running for days at a time. Application loading is a non-issue.
4. Hence why I said Opera needs to load a page for getting addons during the first use. The out of the box experience is typing in a url, browsing, and screen zoom on the lower right hand corner. Everything else you hunt for in menus.
5. Customization may or may not be better. I have been looking at it but I don't see the big deal.
6. No reason to rehash that since I must be in a minority there.
My kitchen sink had nothing to do with RAM or processing usage. I give you that it takes up less RAM. The clutter and kitchen sink is stuff that can clutter up your environment and are unnecessary to the user.
At no point in time did I say they had to rely on 3rd party code. Even though some 3rd party code is fantastic. NoScript being a good example of continuously improved code. I would rather have Opera, Firefox, IE, Safari, or any other browser to be modular. I want the option to leave out features that I do not want to use.
Being modular and extending your browser with "addons" isn't a difficult concept.
That is my 4 cents.