They give you a free blog as well.. at least they were when they were giving the browser away a little while ago.
Is there any reason to try Opera vs. Firefox? Anything it can do that FF can't?
Ehhh... it's just different. It seems faster than Firefox. However, it really depends on the user, which browser you prefer. It's a spunky little browser, but some people (including me) find the UI a little cluttered. I haven't really investigated how much customisation is possible with it. Firefox of course has the advantage of extensions and so forth. The only reason I don't use Opera all the time is because I rely on my FF extensions like makelink, dict, gmail notifier, forecastfox... and all the others.
I've been using Opera since version 1.x . . . even paid for it back in version 2.x
I've never found any of the other browsers to be comparable for speed, features, or customisability (is that a real word?). It is insanely customisable . . . . Plus, they do tabbed browsing right, and having done them since the beginning. The Opera mail client is really quite nice, although I've switched back to Pegasus recently. Plus, it has a nice "delete all private data" feature which quickly and easily clears all cookies, etc. My only complaint with Opera is some compatability problems with some websites, especially banking site, and MoFi/MeFi (has a habit of double posting on ya if you're not careful . . .).
I haven't tried it recently. The first version I tried on OS X a couple of years ago was terrible. I'll probably download it again and give it a look, but I doubt it will win my heart away from Safari and Chimera Camino.
I do have one Windows-using friend who swears by it.
I use WinXP, BTW. I've also used the Solaris and Linux versions. Never tried it on Mac. Opera is a little more complicated to learn, and you really do need to do some customising to adjust the defaults to your needs, but once you switch it is painful to use another browser.
I found that on OSX Opera wasn't as good as on Windows. THe main reason I open up Opera is for the occasional times when I want to have two windows ope side by side and not have to manually divide them into two even windows.
It is extra configurable, sometimes to the point of confusion and out of the box it does nearly everything that Firefox can do after you install tons of extensions.
Opera is my number two browser behind firefox. It works on the occasional site that Firefox won't work on and is still much safer than Internet Explorer. (Maxthon, a shell for IE is my thrid choice since it has tabs. I use actual IE only to run windows update and to check my hotmail (since MSN messenger opens it when you click on the new messages)).
There are some things I really like in Opera. I love that when you scale the window, it scales the size of graphics as well so that you can make a page readable without compromising the layout.
That said, I don't use it frequently. I do keep it around and I test my web designs on it, but it's not an important part of my balanced breakfast.
I see a little silhouetto of a man/
scaramouche scaramouche will you do the fandango?/
thunderbolts and lightning/
very very frightening, me!
(free opera)
No, no, no, no, no, no, no!
*cough* sorry
Mamma mia, mamma mia.
Galileo, figaro
Magnifico-o-o-o-o!
Bealzebub has a devil put aside for meee-eee-eee.
for meee-eee-eee
for MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.
*headbanging ensues*
Also, Dr Jimmy -- you bastard. Now I have that song stuck in me head :p
Opera has a page where you can make opera look more like other browsers if opera out of the box is not to the liking of some.
I don't think there's anything Opera can do that Mozilla can't - with plugins. For me, that's the real draw. It's an all-in-one package, with everything tightly integrated and tested.
Their mouse gesture system, for example, is a joy to behold. I've tried gesture plugins for Moz, and not a one of them has felt half as naturalistic as Opera's. I went through and reassigned the gestures to match the ones I was used to, and there was just no contest.
I also loved the tabbed browsing and how I can open a folder full of 15+ links all at once, with it barely batting a proverbial eyelash.
It is true, though - the default UI is definitely too cluttered. Users continue to gripe about it; Opera continues to be of the opinion that it's better to be cluttered than to hide features that users might not otherwise ever find. I find it personally annoying since I have an *extremely* pared down interface which is little more than the address bar, since I do everything else in gestures.
I got addicted to Opera with version 6. That was back when Mozilla was huge, slow, clunky, and ugly. It's gotten a lot better, so there's a lot less reason to say Opera is definitively *better.* But in the end, I think it presents a good argument that, as great as open-source software can be, a tightly integrated core crew can produce a better *feeling* piece of software. Opera is just more pleasant to use, with all the same features.
Only mildly off-topic, but I just got super excited over the fact that I accidentally found out that I can set multiple pages in Firefox as my "home pages." So I can get Monkeyfilter, Google, AND the Red Sox scores all in one simple motion. And that just made my night. Sad.
I used to be one of the cool kids, I swear.
Firefox runs off of a USB key, with plug-ins and extensions. That in and of itself is a cool sweet reason to have it around. Opera I'm happy to have available for testing websites, but I'm too ingrained into the Mozilla line to switch.
Nice to see they're free now. SOme historical perspective though - To give you some idea of the browser quality remember how long MS and Netscape were giving away free browsers, and Opera charged, yet is still in business...
(Opera vs. Netscape? Opera wins. Vs. Firefox? The whole reason for Firefox was to separate browser from mail client, to make stability and upgrades easier. Opera still uses the swiss-army knife approach. I like the pared-down minimalistic yet vastly expandable browser myself.)
I love Opera, though I do like Firefox too.
It actually is possible to run Opera from a flash drive too, though setting it up manually is slightly involved. A couple of people have automated it, but I haven't tried their tools.
ChimeraCamino. I do have one Windows-using friend who swears by it.