IBM's Lou Gerstner was be-knighted by Queen Elizabeth II
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Opera 10.5 looks good
EVENES, the browser otherwise known as Opera 10.5, was launched the other day and is proving popular.
A serious overhaul of the aging browser technologies has brought it up to speed with the competition and Opera is promising FireFox, Chrome and Internet Exploder a run for their money.
Having launched as an Alpha in December, the final 10.5 version now brings together all the new enhancements that were slowly simmering in the background: HTML5, <canvas> Text, hardware accelerated vector graphics, geolocation and Java execution.
Opera Software announced their reborn-of-ashes Opera to be the fastest one so far, with a flurry of improvements that seem to put it on even ground with the likes of FireFox and Chrome. According to company benchmarking, the new JavaScript engine dubbed Carakan is eight times faster than the Opera 10.1 Futhark engine. Graphics rendering is being handled by the Vega graphics library, a hardware-accelerated (DX 9 graphics or above, OpenGL for non-Windows OSes), which performs over three times faster than its predecessor in Opera 10.1. First impressions of the OS show that Opera Software has trodden a similar path to Firefox and Chrome. Just start by looking at the GUI. The inner workings are different, of course, and the source of much pride from Opera developers who have an almost religious devotion to it.
Just under a year ago, people were beyond caring whether Opera lived on or died.
Its dwindling market share and slow development, together with the rise of Chrome had all but consigned Opera to extinction. However, it seems that Microsoft's ballot screen, together with some successful marketing, has Opera on the rise again.
Opera claims its downloads have trebled since Microsoft presented the infamous EU-spawned browser ballot screen. However, we're a bit reluctant to credit Microsoft for this achievement, as the download numbers are more than likely due to the browser launch and word of mouth.
You can take Opera 10.5 for a spin if you go to the Opera.com website - it's on the front page - and its available for Windows, OS X and Linux. µ
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A pretty steady 2.2% market share throughout 2009 is hardly a "dwindling market share".
http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/browsers_stats.asp
:D
The Inq still hangs on some ad or something or other and it still looks horrible with a big font, lines overlap each other.
Inq is in need of a huge design overhaul. Nothing fancy or gimmicky like web 2.0. However, a new layout, colour scheme and quite possibly design wouldn't do any harm.
I have to say... this article reads like a stroppy Firefox fanboy who was forced to write a positive article about Opera by a boss who threatened him with the sack if he didn't.
Or sommat.
And I did smile at seeing a denial that the MS ballot box has helped market share, claiming that it's all down to their own efforts and nothing more. All I've been reading in the acerbic comments on this site over the EU thing was that Opera were resorting to the ballot box to gain market share because they couldn't do it on their own efforts!
Opera 10.5 doesn't have h/ware accelerated gfx. It uses Vega but at the moment it is purely software rendered. H/w acceleration will be including in the future.
Paul, ageing browser technologies in Opera? You sure you've been using anything beyond Opera 6 over the last two years? If Opera was 'ageing', how would you describe good old Internet Exploder and even Firefox?
Writing this using Chrome, BTW. Opera running alongside. Yes, I keep both browsers open all day.
After Opera got its way with the Browser-Ballot (they're the ones who complained after all), they rushed out a new version to present the public with.
Somehow, that new version they will be presenting to the unwashed masses is very buggy and generally worse than 10.1.
Sure, the new javascript-engine is faster and all, but is that worth the risk of alienating potential users with an unfinished product?
They've never fixed(and won't ack) the NSL(never stops loading) problem and there is a dearth of addons(widgets)which makes it a far less appealing browser to ME.
Did I mention it is FAST.
I cycle though Opera's tabs using the mouse wheel. Have done for years. Not sure what you mean.
10.5 seems OK here. Haven't noticed any bugs so far. I'm sure they're there, but if they don't make themselves obvious and I don't go hunting for them, I'm happy.
People who have an obsession with 'noobs' are usually new enough themselves so that the novelty hasn't worn off yet. That's why they're so passionate. When you gain some real life experience, you learn to sit back and let the world go by at its own pace while you walk very comfortably at yours. I use Opera, have done since the 90s. I don't care if it's market share is 2% or 95%. It's what I like, so I use it, and have no problematic sites. Perhaps if important sites did actually break, I'd change. I certainly wouldn't post about it on messageboards all day, every day, every site.
"Just under a year ago, people were beyond caring whether Opera lived on or died."
Has it really changed?
I mean really, Opera's market share probably still comprises the same people who adopted it when Netscape 3.0 was around. It is such irony that such market stagnation is associated with a browser that contains so many innovations. Perhaps what it really goes to show is that the browser market is dead.
I'm sick and tired of people going on about market share to be honest. What market? Did you pay for your browser? No? So who cares how many people have it installed or not?
The fact is though that Opera does reasonably well in the mobile space where they can actually bring in some revenue.
Oh, and to that guy who used 'noob' about 80 times: Seriously, calm the hell down. You sound like a 13 year old WoW player.
First rollback I've had to do with Opera. Check out their forum first before you install, you might save yourself some time. "On January 5, 2010, Jon von Tetzchner stepped down as CEO of Opera Software[2] to be replaced by Lars Boilesen." Coincidence? Maybe 10.51 will be better.
Since your 'Alwaysright', maybe you could hold down the'right' mouse button and cycle through the tabs, retard.
quote "still comprises the same people who adopted it when Netscape 3.0 was around. " NO actually - If you have been a member of the forum for long enough, you will realise that it is so low, because they are new people, who try for bit, and then give up, then to be replaced by a new set of 'hopeful people' later on...