Opera engineering VP says slim lady will continue to sing

I RECENTLY INTERVIEWED Opera's VP of engineering, Christen Krogh. He joined Opera SW in this role in 2001, after previous experience at SINTEF Telecom and Informatics, and time spent at Oslo University and Glasgow University.

Here's how the interview went.

Q At a time when Internet Explorer has such a huge lead in browser acceptance, Opera as a business is centred around a single core product, its browser. Isn't that a courageous yet risky venture in itself?
A Even though it may be true that the Windows desktop is currently dominated by Internet Explorer, this does of course not hold for other platforms. For instance, Internet Explorer has no presence on platforms such as Symbian, Linux, Mediahighway, QnX and micro-ITRON. Browsing is not primarily a Windows desktop venture. In order to "win" a browser war you have to be on all the devices.

Additionally, Opera is not just a browser. On our desktop platforms we have a mail client, a chat client, a news client, and an rss client. On the embedded side Opera can integrate with platform services and the application environment to let the browser control the whole device through an html page (in a secure way, of course). Opera even has a server solution in order to speed up the web experience further on slow connections.

Q What major improvements can we expect from Opera Browser 7.50 or 8.xx versions? Will there be a move to a lighter embedded browser à la Firefox?
A Opera is already superlight, even though we have packed it full of features and customizability. On a general level improvements are planned both with respect to new web standards, and basic utilities such as speed.

Furthermore, previews of our next generation rendering technology (how to view web pages designed for desktop screens in smaller windows) should also be available. Obviously, I cannot comment too much about what is to come :-), except ensuring you that the slim lady will continue to sing.

Q What makes Opera different from its free competitors such as Mozilla and Internet Explorer?
A Opera's strength is our ability to innovate. Many features in other browsers were first implemented properly in Opera (gestures, tabbed browsing, integrated access to search engines). We offer the best Internet experience both due to our standards compliance and our UI features. As mentioned above, Opera also has an unmatched multi-platform presence.

Q What is Opera's stand vis-à-vis Open Source philosophy?
A We respect and applaud open source work. The idea that a combined voluntary milieu goes together to realise great software, revealing the source code, has high potential.

Q Apart from the float (IPO), what can we expect of Opera in the near future in terms of acquisition, launch of new products etc?
A You can certainly expect releases. Hard work is going on in order to push out the next desktop versions, as well as a number of embedded browsers. We officially launched Opera 7 for mobile devices the other day. New desktop releases are around the corner (currently several TPs are out from our Windows and Linux groups, and Mac is coming along quite nicely). Our focus now, as it was before the IPO, is to deliver, deliver, deliver.

Q What are the main motivations behind this IPO, keeping in mind that Opera employees hold 70% of existing share?
A Opera now has around 140 employees. We are currently recruiting in order to accommodate new delivery projects from our OEM customers. Any excellent C++ programmers out there? Please contact us! Opera went public last Thursday. The rationale behind the IPO was to raise capital to strengthen our delivery ability, as well as offering an exit for certain of our professional investors which has been with us for several years. We said we would not go public before we made money. We made money, and we went public.

Q Can you give us the history of Opera in a nutshell?
A In the early nineties (1992) early versions of the World Wide Web were being explored at Norway's state owned Telecommunications entity. Our two founders, Jon S. von Tetzchner and Geir Ivarsøy, began developing their own browser (Opera) within this milieu in 1994. In 1995 they acquired the rights to the software, and thus Opera was born. The first version of Opera was made available for download on the Internet in September 1996. We started focusing on handheld devices in 1998. From 1999 to 2000 we grew substantially in size, diversifying on several operating systems and signing up with a number of large customers.

Today we have three large product lines -- desktop, smartphones, and iTV. We actively support a number of operating systems including Windows, Mac OS, Linux (desktop, embedded), Mediahighway, Symbian, micro-ITRON, QnX, to mention a few.

Accumulated download figures are in excess of 35 million. Opera is earning money, and the IPO was oversubscribed by a factor of 20.

Q Opera relies heavily on brand loyalty and word of mouth for its advertising. How do you think Opera's presence in the mobile market will help create a brand awareness that may, in turn, help to increase its desktop share?
A I would say Opera has a very strong brand in the browsing domain. A good example is a recent phone launched by Kyocera in China which has a keypad button with the red Opera "O" to launch the (Opera) browser. Being out there on millions of mobile phones will help further in building awareness that Opera is for browsing. I wouldn't be surprised if it helped the desktop download figures.

A nice synergy of the two product lines (desktop and smartphone) is that you can see how Opera renders a web site on a mobile phone by pressing shift-F11.

Q What do you consider personally as your most useful Opera feature?
A It is customisable. I have a laptop with limited screen real estate. I tend to minimize the UI by zooming buttons, disable button text, and in general hide parts of the UI I don't use. Furthermore, I do not think I could live professionally without the suite of features and applications integrated with Opera. I use Opera as a mailer, a document viewer (yes, we write our documents in HTML when we can), a web browser, and as a presentation engine (who needs Powerpoint?). Finally, I must say that browsing from a mobile phone would be unthinkable without Opera. Without our small screen rendering technology the web just wouldn't fit into mobile phones.

Q What makes up a normal working day at Opera?
A My main responsibility is ensuring that development proceeds as planned, that we are doing the right things, and that the right people are involved. Thus my workday is made up by a nice mixture of reviewing new technology, facilitate development, and by prioritizing what should be done. Opera employees are extremely skilled and pro-active. It is the most productive work environment I know. I usually start my working day before eight, leaving the office area in the afternoon to dine with my two daughters and then put them to bed. Evenings are spent for professional activities I cannot fit into my office schedule (such as statements of work, reports, and non-urgent emails). µ