Opera Watch

MOVED!!

2006-06-13T16:13:00.000-05:00

Opera Watch has moved to operawatch.com.

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This feed has been discontinued!

Update your feed subscription now!

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MOVED!!!

2006-05-31T15:10:00.000-05:00

This feed has been discontinued; UPDATE your feed

2006-05-17T13:11:00.000-05:00

REMINDER: Opera Watch has moved

2006-05-04T10:52:00.000-05:00

Opera Watch Moved - UPDATE YOUR FEED

2006-04-30T16:50:00.000-05:00

Opera Watch has moved to its new home at OperaWatch.com

Update your feed subscription to:
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Coming soon...

2006-04-25T11:33:00.000-05:00

Opera Watch will be moving soon to its new home at OperaWatch.com.

Stay tuned for more details.

Opera opens Beijing office

2006-04-25T11:27:00.000-05:00

Opera today opened its new offices in (the communist) Beijing, China.

China has more than 100 million Internet users, and the number is increasing rapidly. Over 400 million people own a mobile phone, providing a massive market potential for Opera’s browsers.

With the new Beijing office, Opera is hoping to secure a strategic foothold in the emerging Chinese market and reinforcing its partnerships with local companies. Opera already has business relationships with Chinese and China-based companies.

In February Opera opened an office in India. The Norway based Opera also has offices in Japan, Sweden, USA, and Korea.

Opera CTO, Håkon Wium Lie, answers your questions

2006-04-24T00:18:00.000-05:00

Two and a half weeks ago we solicited questions for Håkon Wium Lie, the Chief Technical Officer (CTO) of Opera Software. Hakon, of course, is also known as the father of CSS and as the one who proposed the Acid2 test.

Here is a snippet of some of his answers to questions that were submitted by Opera Watch readers. This interview is part of this month's issue of Opera Bits, which is due out later today.

Anonymous: I don't know if he is the right one to ask, but I'd like to know if there will be more css3-selectors like :last-child order the :nth-selectors in the near future? The latest changelogs seem to me, that more GUI-features are implemented, but a significant improvement of the CSS3-support is lacking a bit.

Hakon: We have prioritized fixing old bugs over adding new functionality. The Acid2 test now renders flawlessly in Opera and having interoperable functionality of the CSS2.1 layout model is more important than most CSS3 modules. As the CSS3 drafts mature, you will see more support from us.

FataL: Håkon, what do you think about idea of CSS Naked Day (April 5th)?

Hakon: I liked the naked day idea. This is what I wrote in a comment on the blog:

This is a fun idea, fully in line with the reasons for creating CSS in the first place. While most designers are attracted by the extra presentational capabilities, saving HTML from becoming a presentational language was probably a more important motivation for most people who participated in the beginning.

Thomas Scholz: You used Prince to print your thesis — will Opera cooperate with Prince to improve the printing capabilities of the Opera browser? Are there any other concrete plans for CSS printing?

Hakon: Yes, I used Prince to make a PDF file of the thesis. Bert Bos and I also used Prince for our book on CSS. Ideally, Opera would be able to do the job. However, making a PDF file is quite different from displaying content on the screen. Opera is tuned for speed and size, while Prince is tuned for that page number references that cannot be resolved until the whole book has been formatted. So, from an engineering perspective it makes sense to have two different programs.

The W3C CSS WG is working on more advanced print features and I think we'll see strong uptake of CSS for print-oriented content.

David Naylor: Apparently, someone has started thinking about creating an Acid3 test. What useful features are there to be tested in such a test, which aren't already in the Acid2 test?

Hakon: Yes, I think it's time to start thinking about Acid3. The basic principle should remain the same: Acid3 should be a one-page test to help browser vendors keep their promises. As for functionality, I think acid3 should be an applications, not a document.

Bernie Zimmermann: Håkon, why doesn't CSS support constants? Being able to assign an RGB value to a constant, for instance, could make stylesheet maintenance a lot more manageable. Was it just an oversight?

Hakon: No, we thought about it. True, it would have saved some typing. However, there are also some downsides. First, the CSS syntax would have been more complex and more programming-like. Second, what would be the scope of the constant? The file? The document? Why? In the end we decided it wasn't worth it.

--
Subscribe to Opera Bits, to read more of this interview with Hakon.

Opera 9 beta 1 released

2006-04-21T10:04:00.000-05:00

Opera on Thursday released its first beta version of Opera 9.

The beta version includes many new features to the browser, including Widget, BitTorrent, Content Blocking (aka ad blocking), the ability to customize the integrated search engine field, Tab Thumbnail preview, site-specific preferences, and more. A complete list of changes for this release is available here.

Download Opera 9

P.S. I'm on a (mini) vacation now; I hope to write a more detailed review of Opera 9 later.

Yahoo AU uses the Opera Man

2006-04-17T12:21:00.000-05:00

Yahoo Australia has added the 'Opera Man' on its homepage.

The hitching Opera Man was first introduced as part of the Opera 8 campaign. It was never really popular in the Opera community.

But it's apparently popular with some after all.

Opera doesn't have a mascot at this time. Some in the Opera community suggested that the Opera Man might become Opera's new mascot, though Opera denied this multiple times.

There was actually talk in Opera about introducing an official mascot, but that seems to have died down.

Yahoo's use of the Opera Man

--
Hat tip to santouras.

Opera 9 beta 1 close to being released

2006-04-07T13:13:00.000-05:00

The first beta version of Opera 9 is close to being made public.

In addition to the weekly builds of Opera 9 being released, over the last couple weeks Opera has also released some mid-weekly builds in order to get more feedback and squash more bugs. If all goes well with this week's build, the beta should be out soon.

Some of the new features in Opera 9 include Widgets, a new and improved opera:config, BitTorrent support, site specific preferences, editable integrated search, and a rewrite of important parts of the rendering engine. (It still doesn't have the status toolbar enabled by default.)

Opera 9, codenamed Merlin, will also pass the Acid2 test.

P.S. For those of you Mac users, an Easter egg has been added in this week's weekly build of the Mac version. Hint: You need a remote control.

Opera Mini 2.0 coming later this month

2006-04-07T10:32:00.000-05:00

Opera Mini 2.0 is just around the corner.

According to Eskil Sivertsen, from the Opera Mobile division, Opera Mini 2.0 will be released later this month. "It will have many improvements and some really nice new functionality" he says.

Among the new features is a download functionality, which would allow you to download files to your phone using Opera Mini.

Nearly 30,000 downloads of Opera Mini each day

2006-04-06T12:46:00.000-05:00

Since its launch in late January, Opera Mini has amassed for than 2 million users.

Instead of requiring the phone to process Web pages, Opera Mini uses a remote server to pre-process the page before sending it to the phone, which makes it perfect for phones with very low resources, or low bandwidth connections. Opera Mini's download size is only 55 KB.

Pages are reformatted and compressed before being sent to the phone, so they only use about one fifth of their normal amount of traffic. After Opera Mini's compression, the average Web page size is between 10 and 20 kilobytes (KB).

The daily number of Web pages surfed with Opera Mini exceeds four million. Opera has quite a few servers to handle this load, which currently reside in Oslo, Norway. Opera is looking into setting up servers in other parts of the world too. But Opera's Eskil Sivertsen is quick to point out to Opera Watch that tests have shown that the speed is not noticeably reduced even if the servers are in Oslo. Most of the Opera Mini users are in the USA and Russia.

Opera Mini is making a big impact in the mobile industry; Opera has signed deals with many phone operators to distribute Opera Mini to their customers.

Opera Mini runs on all phones that support Java, which most already do. It is estimated that there are more than 700 million Java enabled mobile phones in the market.

Opera to integrate VoIP into desktop and mobile browsers

2006-04-05T13:41:00.000-05:00

Opera will add Skype-like phone support to both the desktop and mobile browsers.

Opera today announced a partnership with JAJAH, which introduced global VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) telephony between normal landline and mobile phones - without software download, installation process and headsets. Opera will integrate JAJAH`s web-activated telephony service with the Opera Mobile and Opera Mini Web browsers, as well as the upcoming Opera 9 desktop browser.

Expected to be available in about 4-6 months, the new VoIP support will enable Opera desktop and mobile phone users to make phone calls through the Internet.

Back in January when there was talk about Opera possibly entering the VoIP market, an Opera official told me that Opera has no plans to compete directly against Skype, but wouldn't elaborate further.

Opera fixes Flash vulnerability, Gmail with Opera 8.54

2006-04-05T13:35:00.000-05:00

Opera today released an update for the desktop browser, version 8.54.

The update includes a fix for the Flash vulnerability in the Windows version. Opera 8.54 also fixes the problem with e-mail messages not opening in Gmail correctly.

Download Opera 8.54

Submit your questions for Håkon Wium Lie, the father of CSS and the Acid2 test

2006-04-05T12:12:00.000-05:00

Some of you may know him as the father of CSS and some as the one who proposed the Acid2 test. In the Opera community he's also know as the Chief Technical Officer (CTO) of Opera Software, Håkon Wium Lie.

In 1994 Hakon proposed the concept of Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) that has truly shaped the way we all view the Web. He also spent some time working for the guy who invented the web.

Known for his strong standards advocacy, a little over a year ago, Hakon proposed the Acid2 test, which was written to help browser vendors ensure proper support for web standards in their products. More recently Hakon defended his PhD thesis.

Here is your chance to ask Hakon about anything on your mind -- Acid2, CSS, Standards, Opera, Firefox, or even his favorite color. Post your questions below in the comments to this post.

We'll post his answers to some of your questions in about a week and a half. This interview will also appear in Opera's monthly email newsletter "Opera Bits". Starting with the next newsletter, Opera Bits will focus more on the core Opera user, a bit more technical. If you haven't yet subscribed to Opera Bits, you can do so here.

Post your questions in the comments.

Opera Fools: Announcing Opera Models

2006-04-01T20:04:00.000-05:00

In compliance with the new law governing the internet and technology companies, Opera announced today a new and bold business initiative: Opera Models.

Using Opera employees as models, Opera aims to show how real people really use technology in their everyday lives. "We are always looking for new ways to monetize our staff," says Jon S. von Tetzchner, CEO of Opera Software. "They are after all our most valuable resource, and this is the best idea we've had since we attached generators to our gym's treadmills."

On a related note, Firefox's Asa Dotzler (who Opera fans love to hate) has finally seen the light by making the switch to the Opera browser. Asa, welcome to the community.

Dolphins Surfing the Internet with Opera Mini

2006-03-31T12:19:00.000-05:00

Our buddy Dan Yurman, who will be joining Opera Watch sometime soon as a columnist, wrote an interesting article about how dolphins are surfing the internet with Opera Mini.

While we're on the April Fool's agenda, take a look at this article which claims that Sun Microsystems is talking to Opera about developing a customized version of the Opera mobile browser with bathroom-targeting technology. This technology would detect when a cell phone is in use in the bathroom in order to provide bathroom-specific mobile advertising like hand soap, dental care, and even beauty products.

Happy Opera Fools Day!

Nokia renews contract with Opera mobile, despite working on Open Source browser with Apple

2006-03-31T09:25:00.000-05:00

Opera today announced that it had renewed its contract with Nokia to include Opera's mobile browser on Nokia's mobile phones.

This contract renewal comes despite Nokia collaborating with Apple on a new Open Source browser for their Series 60 smartphones using the same components found in the Safari Web browser. The deal with Opera shouldn't be construed that Nokia is moving away from Apple. Their contract renewal with Opera has no set termination date, which means that Nokia could ax the Opera Mobile deal just as quickly.

More than 17 million people bought a mobile phone that included the Opera browser during 2005, compared to 8.8 million units in 2004. The browser was included on 24 different handset models in 2005, compared to 13 models in 2004. Opera's goal for 2006 is to at least double the number of mobile phone models that include the Opera browser.

The number of mobile phones sold that include the Opera browser, is expected to increase significantly in 2006 compared to 2005.

Opera's Web Applications team starts blogging

2006-03-29T13:07:00.000-05:00

Opera's Web Applications team started a new blog today dealing with the Opera Platform (the first mobile AJAX framework), Opera Widgets, and general web developer topics including AJAX.

Go ahead check it out; perhaps you'll learn something new. They even have a little game in the second blog post that is quite addictive. Note, you need Opera 9 TP2 or preferably the latest weekly build of Opera 9 to play this game.

Opera Mini gaining worldwide momentum

2006-03-29T08:22:00.000-05:00

Opera's mobile division is staying busy, announcing four more new contracts with companies that will promote and distribute the Opera Mini mobile browser to their customers.

The four companies are US-based PriceRunner, HT Telecom in Latvia, Small Planet in Russia and the Baltics, and Denmark-based Unwire, which will distribute Opera Mini in 180 countries.

This announcement comes only days after Opera announced three important distribution agreements for Opera Mini with T-Mobile, GrameenPhone in Bangladesh, and the German telecommunications service provider, Debitel.

Opera Mini is picking up momentum after its global launch in January 2006. Opera's Eskil Sivertsen likes what he's seen so far, telling Opera Watch "we are very pleased with the progress Opera Mini is making, and its download numbers are increasing."

Opera Mini's downloads are increasing every day, in contrast with the desktop browser, where the downloads typically reach a high peak with every release, then decline some and stabilize, Opera Mini is the opposite. "To ensure widespread distribution of [Opera] Mini we are dependent on distribution deals like the ones we have just announced, and for every new deal the curve goes up. So with [Opera] Mini, the per-day download numbers are only increasing over time."

Eskil also pointed out that with the pre-installments and distribution deals with large and small companies around the world Opera is reaching more and more people through their own channels - people that have never heard about Opera Software, let alone the concept of mobile Web browsing.

Since Opera is not planning on spending millions of dollars on an Opera Mini advertising campaign, it is extremely dependent on these kind of distribution deals to get the Opera Mini word out.

Opera is betting high on the success of Opera Mini. It already has a stronghold in the traditional mobile market, and is aiming now for the 700 million Java-enabled mobile devices with Opera Mini. There is a lot of excitement in Opera over the future of Opera Mini. "You've only seen the beginning", says Eskil.

If the stock market is any indication, Opera's shares reached an all-time high after the Opera Mini deal was announced with T-Mobile and Debitel.

As of a few weeks ago over 1.7 million people have downloaded the browser. The new and current download numbers will be made public shortly by Opera.

Opera Mini is available as a free download to all users; however, mobile operators have the option of including a customized version of the browser on their mobile devices for a licensing fee.

KDE's Konqueror browser passes Acid2 test; Opera standard?

2006-03-28T21:26:00.000-05:00

After saying that they passed the Acid2 test in their internal builds, KDE released a new public version of the Konqueror browser, which passes the Acid2 test.

Not only did they pass the Acid2 test, which is a milestone, but they did it according to Opera's standards. Or at least so says their changelog.

From the KDE 3.5.2 changelog:

"Implement CSS2.1 quirk about behavior of overflow and root and body. Now we pass Acid2 according to Opera's standard, but in an actual release version."

Hmm...

--
Via Saito

How competing websites stack up against each other

2006-03-23T23:27:00.000-05:00

David Storey, Opera's Web Opener, came up with an interesting dueling contest idea that puts websites of competing brands against one another and seeing how well they display in various browsers. It also looks at other stuff, such as the use of CSS, JavaScript, and plugins.

The rules are as follows:

Does the site work in all major browsers? (IE, Opera, Firefox, Safari)
Does the CSS and (X)HTML validate or use standards based code the validators do not recognize yet?
Are there any JavaScript errors?
Does it use CSS or table based layout?
Does it use CSS for style or HTML tags?
Is the (X)HTML semantic and lightweight?
Does the page work without plug-ins?
Does the page work without JavaScript?
Does the site follow accessibility guidelines such as alt tags on images?
Are decretive images included in the CSS instead of the HTML?
If a print option is offered is it a stylesheet or a separate page?
Is a handheld stylesheet offered or the site mobile friendly?

Example:

What are some of the sites that you would like to see duel it out?

Opera Co-founder Geir Ivarsøy Passes Away

2006-03-17T08:50:00.000-05:00

Geir Ivarsoy, the co-founder of Opera Software, passed away after a long battle with cancer.

Geir along with Jon von Tetzchner developed the Opera browser, initially known as MultiTorg Opera, while working for a Norwegian Telecommunication company in 1993. In 1995 the two of them spun off their project and founded Opera Software.

At a board meeting in January of 2004, Geir (together with von Tetzchner) announced his wish to resign as a board member in Opera Software, though he remained active in the company even after that. In June of 05 he was elected as a member of the Nomination Committee of the company.

He passed away on March 9th; Opera employees will pay their respects to Geir at his funeral today at Grefsen Kirke in Oslo.

My condolences go out to his family, friends, and colleagues at Opera.

RIP Geir Ivarsoy.

Opera Bits: A monthly Opera newsletter

2006-03-15T13:05:00.000-05:00

Opera released today the first issue of Opera Bits, a monthly email newsletter.

Opera Bits features interviews, articles and new Opera competitions. This month's issue is also available online.

Join the Newsletter

Latest weekly build of the Opera browser passes Acid2 test

2006-03-10T12:45:00.000-05:00

The most recent weekly build of the Opera desktop browser, which was released today, has passed the Acid2 test (see screenshots below).

The Acid2 test has been written to help browser vendors make sure their products correctly support features that are part of web standards.

Acid2 tests for features that are part of existing standards but haven't been supported by major browsers. Acid2 is a complex web page. Though not all web standards are tested, it uses features that are not in common use yet, because of lack of support, and it crams many tests into one page.

Konqueror and Apple's Safari browser have also passed the Acid2 test.

It's finally smiling.

Latest Weekly build (#8265)

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Opera 9 TP2

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Opera 8.02

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Opera 8.0

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Opera 7.54

T-Mobile is first to pre-install Opera Mini on Mobile Devices

2006-03-08T09:09:00.000-05:00

T-Mobile became the first to have Opera Mini pre-installed on its mobile phones.

This version of Opera Mini will be customized to the look and feel of T-Mobile. Opera Mini is included as part of T-Mobile's Web'n'Walk service, and is available in select European countries including Germany, the UK, Austria, and the Netherlands.

Opera Mini is available as a free download to all users; however, mobile operators have the option of including a customized version of the browser on their mobile devices for a licensing fee.

Opera 8.53 likely to be released soon

2006-03-02T13:19:00.000-05:00

It appears that Opera will release an update to its desktop browser (Windows platform) within the next few days.

The update, Opera 8.53, is likely a result of an urgent security vulnerability. Just a couple weeks ago Opera released version 8.52.

Security vendor Secunia doesn't list any unpatched security holes for the Opera browser on its site at this time. Opera usually coordinates its browser updates with Secunia, so that Secunia doesn't release any information about security vulnerabilities in the browser before a patch is made available.

Update (3/3/2006): Opera 8.53 will only be available in following languages: Chinese (simplified), Chinese (traditional), Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, Hindi, Italian, Japanese, Norwegian (bokmål), Norwegian (nynorsk), Portuguese, Russian, Swedish.

Opera 8.52 in the above languages was originally released with an insecure version of Macromedia Flash.

Beta 2 of Opera for the Pocket PC unofficially released; Includes tabbed browsing

2006-03-01T16:22:00.000-05:00

The second beta version of the Opera browser for the Pocket PC and Windows Mobile has been added to Opera's FTP directory.

This beta version includes some major updates including the much-awaited tabbed browsing capabilities. The official release is expected tomorrow.

Based on Opera's latest core code, Opera 8.5 for Windows Mobile Pocket PC (PPC) includes Opera's rendering technology that dynamically reformats Web pages to fit the width of any screen size without the need for the horizontal scrollbar. It also supports all major Web standards, including CSS2, DOM 2 and JavaScript.

This version runs on Windows Mobile 2003 and Windows Mobile 5.0.

Important note: Download at your own risk. This release is still unofficial.

Update (3/2/2006); This release is now official.

--
Download beta 2

W3C visits Opera headquarters for AJAX standards discussion

2006-02-26T23:20:00.000-05:00

The W3C's (World Wide Web Consortium) working group on Web APIs met at Opera Headquarters in Norway this past week to work on various web standards, including AJAX (XMLHttpRequest) and DOM-3 Events.

Attending the discussions were Robin Berjon - Expway, Charles McCathieNevile - Opera, Dean Jackson - W3C, Anne van Kesteren - Opera, Jonas Sicking - Mozilla, Stéphane Sire - Intuilab, Jim Ley - jibbering.com, and Gorm Eriksen - Opera. See picture here.

The W3C's is an international consortium, which works to develop Web standards.

Opera joins group in antitrust complaint against Microsoft

2006-02-23T09:18:00.000-05:00

Opera's spokesman Tor Odland told Opera Watch that Opera is part of the group the filed a complaint with the European (EU) Commission last week, alleging its business practices threatened to deny real choice among competing software products.

The group, which includes IBM, Oracle, RealNetworks, Nokia and Sun Microsystems, is asking EU regulators to force Microsoft to end its monopoly practices. Odland explains the basis for Opera's participation is that Opera is a strong advocate for interoperability on the Internet.

--
Read the statement by the chairman of the European Committee for Interoperable Systems' (ECIS), the group that filed the complaint.

Some Opera statistics

2006-02-20T12:35:00.000-05:00

In today's press conference by Opera's outgoing CFO, Christian Jebsen, some interesting statistics regarding Opera's download and usage were revealed.

Opera's desktop browser, Opera 8, averages 100,000 downloads per-day, double the previous download rate from before Opera went ad-free.
In the first couple of days after the release of the Technology Preview (TP) 1 version for Opera 9, more than 500,000 users downloaded the Opera 9 preview. Never before has Opera has this many downloads for a preview version (note, this doesn't include beta versions).
Opera Mini has amassed more than 1,400,000 active users, since its launch less than a month ago.
Opera receives on average of 750,000 unique visitors to its site, opera.com, while the Opera community site receives 600,000 unique visitors per-day.

Opera partially adopts new RSS feed icon

2006-02-15T13:53:00.000-05:00

(See update below)

Opera has adopted the RSS feed icon from Mozilla Firefox on its site.

The new orange icon (see screenshot below) was initially used only by Firefox, but last December Microsoft announced that it too would include the icon in the next release of Internet Explorer (IE). There has been an ongoing effort between browser vendors to encourage more consistency between the various browsers.

I spoke to an Opera official about these developments who told me that there have been discussions at Opera on including the new feed icon in the browser's address bar too. Currently Opera displays a blue icon with the word 'RSS' in the address bar.

Update (2/16/06): It's official now. The new feed icon will be added to the Opera browser too.

New orange feed icon:

Opera 8.52 unofficially released

2006-02-15T13:21:00.000-05:00

Opera 8.52 has been unofficially released on Opera's FTP directory.

Opera has not made any official announcement regarding this release at this time, so I'm not aware of the specific updates. Perhaps it's nothing more than security updates; Opera is putting most of its focus on the next major release, Opera 9, at this time.

Opera 8.52 is available for the Windows, Linux/Unix, and Mac platforms.

The official changelog for Opera 8.52 (Windows) will be posted here, when it's made official.

Important note: Download at your own risk. This release is still unofficial.

Update (2/17/06): Opera has now made this release official, which can be downloaded on its website. This release contains some Gmail loading fixes and a fix for a minor security issues.

Opera browser on the Nintendo DS Gameboy

2006-02-15T08:41:00.000-05:00

Opera today announced that the Opera browser would be made available for the Nintendo DS.

The Opera browser for Nintendo DS will be sold as an optional DS card. Users simply insert the card into the Wi-Fi enabled Nintendo DS, connect to a network, and begin browsing on two screens. As of now it will only be available to Nintendo DS users in Japan.

The browser is based on the same core as the Opera desktop browser.

No date has been set by Nintendo DS on when the DS cards with the Opera browser would become available.

How ironic, when I visited the Nintendo website with my Opera browser (using Opera 9), I got forwarded to a page telling me to upgrade my browser. They claim that their site requires at least Netscape 6.2, Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0, Safari 1.0 or Firefox 1.0. Opera is absent from the list.

Let's hope the iPod is next.

Opera releases weekly builds of desktop browser

2006-02-13T11:51:00.000-05:00

With the release of Opera 9 Technical Preview 2 last week, Opera is starting a new tradition: The Weekly Builds. Every week until the final version of Opera 9 is ready, Opera will release a weekly updated version of Opera 9.

Many Opera users have been asking for this for quite some time. Opera's goal is to open their development process to its users and make them more involved at an earlier stage than when the next public beta is shipped.

It's important to take note that these weekly build are not as thoroughly tested as the beta and preview versions that Opera has been releasing until now.

--
Thanks to Dan1el for the tip.

Opera Widget Ideas

2006-02-08T22:53:00.000-05:00

Opera added widget support in its latest technical preview release of Opera 9. Many Opera developers already pointed out that the widget support is still in its early stages and that with future releases it will be enhanced.

I like the concept of widgets, but I believe there are many ways in which Opera can improve on it and make it more useful. For example, there is no option to show widgets under a window, they're always shown on the top.

The other problem I noticed (right away) is that there is no way to show only one widget at a time. For example, when I need a 'currency converter' widget, I would like to see only that widget on my screen, and when I need to see a calendar, I would like to bring up only the calendar widget. With the current widget configuration, you can either show all widgets or you can hide all widgets; there isn't a way to show only a particular widget at a time (I believe).

I thought of an idea that would solve this problem. Users would have the option to set shortcut buttons for their top 10 widgets, for each widget a number from 0 through 9 would be assigned to it. Upon pressing the CTRL+WIDGET_NUMBER, the widget assigned to that number will show or hide. This way, if I only need the calculator widget, I don't have to see the calendar or any other widgets on my screen.

What are the enhancements that you would like to see Opera implement to their widget support, please post your ideas to the comments of this post.

In addition to widget enhancements, what are some of the widgets that you would like to see? Do you have a nice or cool widget idea? Post them here.

Opera 9 Technical Preview 2 Released

2006-02-07T08:04:00.000-05:00

Technical Preview (TP) 2 of Opera 9 was released by Opera today with many new additional features.

Here is a rundown of some of the new features. Check out some of the for more details into certain features.

Widgets - Opera added support for Widgets, which are small Web applications that run outside the Opera window. (Download Widgets)
Content Blocking - Block content on a per-page basis. (More here)
Graphical interface to modify the integrated search in the browser. (More here)
Added site specific preferences user interface.
Web page thumbnails are now shown when hovering over the tabs. Thumbnails are also available when switching tabs using Ctrl+Tab. (More here)
History panel was modified; a grouping by date and site was added (very useful).
Syntax highlighting has been added to Opera's internal source viewer (useful for web developers for quick debugging).
BitTorrent is back with this preview version.

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Links
Opera's Arve Bersvendsen's overview of this release with screenshots
Opera Labs
Complete changelog for this release
Download Opera 9 Technical Preview 2

Opera Labs

2006-02-06T12:31:00.000-05:00

With tomorrow's release of Opera 9 Technical Preview 2, Opera will also open their Opera Labs to the public.

The Opera Labs will contain prototypes (technical preview and beta versions) of new browser versions. Opera spokesman Thomas Ford told Opera Watch that the Opera Labs would be a resource on the Web to get a behind the scenes look at the new products and technologies that Opera is working on.

In addition, Opera will also add content about open standards and Web applications.

More information will be available tomorrow (2/7/2006) when the Opera Labs officially open.

Preview 2 of Opera 9 to be released tomorrow (2/7/06)

2006-02-06T09:52:00.000-05:00

The second preview of Opera 9 is scheduled to be released tomorrow (2/7/2006), which will include BitTorrent and widgets support.

Update (2/6/2006 2:03PM): Opera spokesman Thomas Ford told Opera Watch that tomorrow's technical preview of Opera 9 will launch with approximately 12 widgets. Some of those will be general tools and others will feature third-party content.

Opera integrates BitTorrent Inc. into upcoming browser

2006-02-06T09:45:00.000-05:00

Opera has teamed up with BitTorrent Inc. to include the BitTorrent protocol in the upcoming version of the Opera Web browser.

BitTorrent's technology will be made available to users of the Opera browser in two ways: first, users can search for torrent files in the Opera browser's integrated search field (the search will be done by BitTorrent.com's engine), and second, when a torrent file has been selected, Opera's Transfer Manager feature will handle the download.

Opera was the first mass-market browser to implement BitTorrent technology. In July of 2005, Opera released a preview version of its browser containing BitTorrent support, as first reported by Opera Watch.

Opera decided to add BitTorrent support during the release of Opera 8 last year. The massive response, with more than 100 downloads per second, dealt a technical knockout to Opera's servers.

With the BitTorrent addition to the Opera browser, it is still has the smallest download file size of all other major browsers. The BitTorrent support has only added another 24KB to the file size.

Opera 9 to add tab thumbnail images

2006-02-01T13:33:00.000-05:00

EXCLUSIVE

I was able to obtain a screenshot of the unreleased Opera 9, currently in development, which shows a new hover feature. When hovering over a tab, a thumbnail image of the tab (page/window) content is shown (see screenshot below).

Internet Explorer's (IE) latest preview release contains a similar feature, however, IE doesn't show the thumbnail image when hovering over the tab, it only displays the thumbnails of all open tabs in a single window.

Opera 9 tab thumbnail

Opera 9 will support Widgets

2006-02-01T13:08:00.000-05:00

EXCLUSIVE

Back in November there was speculation that Opera 9 will add widget support. At that time (and now) an Opera spokesman wouldn't confirm anything to Opera Watch. However, multiple sources familiar with the development of Opera 9 have confirmed to me that Opera 9 will in fact have Widget support.

It's not entirely clear to me whether the widgets, which are small programs that use Opera's rendering engine, will run in the browser (sort of like Firefox's extensions) or whether they can also be run on the user's desktop outside of the browser. From the screenshots (see one of them below) that I have seen, it appears that the widgets will run inside of the Opera browser.

Is widgets Opera's answer to Firefox's popular extensions?

Screenshot of Opera 9 with the widgets option

Update (2/6/2006): Opera spokesman Thomas Ford told Opera Watch that the next technical preview of Opera 9 will launch with approximately 12 widgets. Some of those will be general tools and others will feature third-party content.

Google Search breaks Internet Explorer, not Opera and Firefox

2006-01-25T18:01:00.000-05:00

Google added an ad for Google Desktop (see screenshot below) on the bottom of the first result page of a search. The problem is that the ad is layered above the "Next" button, in Internet Explorer (IE), which makes it impossible to go the page 2 of the search results.

In Opera and Firefox, however, it works fine. How ironic.

Update (1/26/2006): The problem has been fixed. Google said in an e-mail statement: "Earlier today we learned of a technical glitch in a Google Desktop product promotion that may have affected a small percentage of users' ability to click through to subsequent pages of search results. We worked quickly to fix the issue, which has now been resolved."

Switch browsers, and get a better shopping deal

2006-01-24T20:55:00.000-05:00

It appears that eMusic is giving visitors to its site a different deal based on the user's browser.

For example, if you visit the eMusic site with an Opera browser, you will get an offer for 25 free songs. While Internet Explorer (IE) users get an offer for 50 free songs and Firefox users get an offer for 90 songs for 99 cents (See screenshots below).

This is a first for me. I don't recall ever seeing sites give different discounts depending on the browser you're using.

Have we reached a new low with browser sniffing?

25 free songs to Opera users

50 free songs to Internet Explorer (IE) users

90 songs for 99 cents to Firefox users

Update (1/25/06 9:34 AM): Based on the comments to this post, it appears that the particular deal you get is entirely random and not based on the browser you use. Read the comments for more info.

Opera CEO joins World Economic Forum

2006-01-24T14:32:00.000-05:00

Opera's founder and CEO Jon von Tetzchner is among the 735 chief executives that were invited to the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos that is set to start on Wednesday.

The World Economic Forum is an independent international organization formed to help improve the state of the world by engaging leaders in partnerships to shape global, regional and industry agendas.

von Tetzchner blogged about his forum appearance and how it fits in with Opera's vision on the forum's blog.

In early 2005, von Tetzchner joined Google's Larry Page and Sergey Brin among others when he was chosen to be a member of the World Economic Forum's "Young Global Leaders".

Opera Mini Released

2006-01-24T10:25:00.000-05:00

Opera today released its new baby, Opera Mini, worldwide. Today's global launch follows the trials of Opera Mini in the Nordics and in Germany during the fall of 2005, which resulted in a user base of over one million people.

Opera Mini is a new kind of web browser for virtually all mobile phones and devices. Opera Mini was designed to enable the web on mobile phones that would normally be incapable of running a Web browser. Instead of requiring the phone to process Web pages, Opera Mini uses a remote server to pre-process the page before sending it to the phone, which makes it perfect for phones with very low resources, or low bandwidth connections.

In the first few months of its trial launch, Opera Mini was downloaded and used on more than 450,000 unique mobile phones. Approximately 1,000,000 pages were being downloaded per day through Opera's servers.

Pages are reformatted and compressed by Opera's servers before being sent to the phone, so they only use about one fifth of their normal amount of traffic. Opera Mini will store the cache, history, cookies, and passwords for pages you visit on the your service provider's server, which may raise some privacy concerns.

Opera Mini's start page features a Google search box, as a result of its agreement with Google earlier this month, where Google will be the default search partner for the mobile browsers: Opera Mobile and Opera Mini. Under the one-year deal Opera will make Google Search a major part of the browser's home screen.

Opera Mini runs on all phones that support Java, which most already do. It is estimated that there are more than 700 million Java enabled mobile phones in the market.

Installing Opera Mini is as simple as downloading a ringtone or a game. You simply send an SMS or direct your phone's WAP browser to http://mini.opera.com.

Opera faces a challenge with the launch of Opera Mini, the major reason being that mobile web access is still a novelty, and people don't know how it is possible to surf the full Web on their phones.

Opera spokesman Eskil Sivertsen acknowledge the challenges that lie ahead for Opera, telling Opera Watch "in essence, we're suggesting you do something with your phone that most people have never thought about, let alone thought possible." "The challenge is to get as many people as possible to try Mini, because we know that when they do they usually love it."

Opera is not planning on spending millions of dollars on an advertising campaign, which will make its efforts to get Opera Mini into the mass market that much more difficult.

--
Download Opera Mini via: SMS (Text message) | mini.opera.com

Google now compresses pages for Opera as well

2006-01-23T09:56:00.000-05:00

Google is now compressing webpages it sends to the Opera browser, making these pages load faster.

Until now Google sent Opera the regular uncompressed pages, which slowed down the loading of these pages, while other browsers such as Internet Explorer and Firefox got (gzip) compressed pages.

--
Thanks Hallvord

Opera considering entering the IP telephony market

2006-01-18T12:49:00.000-05:00

Opera is considering a potential entry into the Voice Over IP (VoIP) market. Rolf Assev, Opera's vice president for marketing and sales, told the Dagens Næringsliv, a Norwegian newspaper, that they are looking into options for implementing some kind of a VoIP telephony into the browser.

The article seems to make the suggestion that Opera will be challenging Skype, the largest free peer-to-peer VoIP network. However, an Opera official told me that Opera has no plans to compete directly against Skype, but wouldn't elaborate further.

Opera already has an Instant Messaging capability in the browser, through the Private Messages (PM) in its IRC client, so adding voice would be a sensible extension. Implementing an Opera phone would be a logical step for Opera, since it likes to refer to the Opera browser as an "Internet Suite", which already includes a mail client, a full RSS reader, Newsgroup reader, IRC client, BitTorrent support (soon), and of course the browser itself.

I'm working on trying to obtain more details from Opera; I will post updates as soon as I get them.

--
Thanks to Dan1el for the heads up and translation.

Opera browser for Pocket PC finally released

2006-01-18T09:10:00.000-05:00

A beta version of the Opera browser for the Pocket PC has finally been released today.

Today's release has been much anticipated, as this is the first publicly released Opera browser for the Pocket PC.

This version runs on Windows Mobile 2003 and Windows Mobile 5.0.

Download link

Opera working on browser for new Intel Macs

2006-01-16T22:23:00.000-05:00

Following Apple's announcement last week that it will start selling Mac computers that run on the Intel processor chip, Opera is gearing up for the change. Opera will release a version of its browser for the new Intel Macs in a few months, according to spokesman Tor Odland.

About a half a year ago I spoke with one of Opera's Mac developers on the impending Intel change, who told me that first reaction was that the processor switch would have little impact for Opera's development. "The possibility to deliver a Universal Binary that can run on both platforms can be taken advantage of by an application with a small footprint like Opera."

"Opera already delivers the very same desktop version on Intel and PowerPC: The Linux version. This means we have extensive experience with any binary differences (from byte order to performance) between the two platforms", s/he said.

In addition, Opera's lead Mac developer pointed out back then that the Unix and Macintosh projects already share some low-level code, and Apple's switch to Intel processors will mean that Opera will be able to share a few more files and tools.

Opera browser reaches 100 million downloads

2006-01-14T19:08:00.000-05:00

Opera has a page on their site which says that the Opera browser has been downloaded one hundred million times.

Since Opera hasn't made any official comment on this, I assume that this download count doesn't reflect that of Opera 8 only. It is most likely a total count of downloads from previous versions as well. The most recent information that I got was that Opera was averaging between 80,000 to 100,000 downloads per day since going ad-free, so you do the math.

Unless this download count also includes downloads of the Opera browser for mobile devices, in which case it would exclusively refer to downloads of Opera 8.

Neither Opera's homepage nor the community site page link to this page as of this time (I found this page via Asa).

If you take a look at the URL of the page, you’ll notice the word "Google" in it. Perhaps this is in reference to some kind announcement related to Google that will take place in the coming week.

I sent an email to Opera inquiring more information about this, and I will pass it along when I get a response.

Update 1/15/06 12:49 PM: Opera spokesman Eskil Sivertsen just sent me a reply saying that this page was just a landing page for Google ads that some people at Opera have been working on.

The number 100 million was just an element that one of Opera's designers added to the page during the design process and then forgot to remove it. "Some people were playing around with ideas and that page was never meant to be made available online", he wrote.

Opera has just updated the page and removed the reference to 100 million downloads.

Below is a screenshot of the page before the update.

The 'Cool Factor' in Firefox compared to Opera

2006-01-13T15:34:00.000-05:00

Rowan Mulder has written a nice post on his blog about the 'Cool Factor' that exists in Firefox, which lacks in Opera.

I agree with what he has written; Opera definitely doesn't have the 'Cool Factor' and is not considered 'hip'. Appealing to the younger 'hip' market is an important step when trying to promote an internet product. Getting Opera into colleges and universities would also be of great benefits.

Opera has an active and creative marketing department; I hope they take note of this.

Opera to remove Motif dependency for Linux versions

2006-01-13T12:20:00.000-05:00

The next Linux version of Opera 9 for the desktop will not require the presence of Motif for plug-ins to work, according to Claudio Santambrogio, QA Desktop Test Manager (Linux) for Opera.

This should be welcome news for many Linux users, as this has been one of the bigger annoyances Opera users on Linux have been struggling with.

Video of Opera's Times Square Ad

2006-01-10T09:34:00.000-05:00

We finally have some video of Opera's ad in Times Square (New York) on New Year's Eve.

Watch the video - (courtesy of Opera).

Browser market share statistics skewed, according to Opera

2006-01-09T22:49:00.000-05:00

The recent browser market share statistics released by NetApplications showed Firefox and Safari making gains, while Opera's share stayed virtually untouched.

We all anticipated Opera's market share to increase, even slightly, after it decided to drop the ads last September. Opera has doubled its average daily download rate, since going ad-free, so why hasn't it been reflected in the statistics?

According to Opera these statistics are skewed. In an email to Opera Watch Opera spokesman Thomas Ford explained that it's tough to get an accurate and precise picture of the browser market share since most firms that measure it, skew to U.S. sites. "Our traditional geographic stronghold - Europe - may not always reflect fully. Germany, Poland, Russia have been very strong markets for us."

There are in fact multiple explanations for Opera's poor showing in these statistics.

Firefox's link prefetching and Opera's enhanced caching mechanism is perhaps the most obvious. In fact Opera's CEO, Jon von Tetzchner, believes that Firefox's figures are inflated due to their link prefetching. "Sadly the statistics are undercounting Opera and over counting Firefox. Opera has a better caching mechanism so it doesn't access Web sites as often as other browsers. Firefox has added a pre-loading feature that Google has made use of. This inflates the numbers on the statistics," von Tetzchner said.

Another reason why the statistics are skewed is that different sites attract different audiences. Some web sites attract advanced users with technical skills, which more often use secure Browsers; other sites attract hobbyists using older low spec browsers. Firefox has made some great advances with non-technical-savvy users as well, while Opera's main clientele remains mostly with the technical-savvy. Opera has much work to do in this area.

Not properly counting Opera in these statistics could also be due to the fact that Opera, by default, identifies itself as Internet Explorer (IE) with its User Agent (UA). There are some sites that specifically lookout for the Opera browser, and supply it with broken HTML code for the webpage. To counter this, Opera identifies itself as IE. Opera 9 will by default identify itself as Opera.

Technical Preview 2 for Opera 9 Coming Soon

2006-01-09T12:31:00.000-05:00

An Opera official told me that the next technical preview version of the Opera 9 desktop browser should be available soon, though he wouldn't elaborate on the exact timing.

It's been close to three months since the last technical preview version was released. "This is the calm before a storm of activity surrounding the launch of Opera 9", said the official.

Among the new features in the next preview release will be the ability to edit the search properties with a graphical interface, instead of doing it through the search.ini file. Opera's new source viewer will support syntax highlighting. Site preferences will also make it to Opera's preferences window.

I'm eagerly awaiting this next preview release; the current preview version of Opera 9 isn't very stable.

Update (3:06 PM):
I should perhaps point out that in no way am I suggesting that it would be released 'very soon'. I was told it's coming 'soon', which is a bit vague. My feeling is that it won't be really soon, perhaps in a few weeks (WIR). From what I'm hearing, there is still much work to be done.

Microsoft's CEO's thoughts on acquiring Opera

2006-01-06T09:06:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Microsoft's CEO Steve Ballmer was quoted saying to a Norwegian Newspaper is relations to the rumors about Microsoft buying Opera "in the first place, I do not know if they would be interested, and furthermore every government in the world would have reacted strongly if we did it."

Opera for the Pocket PC leaked (cracked) on the Internet

2006-01-03T13:39:00.000-05:00

A cracked version of the Opera browser for the Pocket PC has been leaked on the Internet.

The crack involves patching the opera.dll file to unlock the browser from the Sharp/Willcom W-Zero3 device. The Sharp W-ZERO3 is a Windows Mobile 5.0 device, and the first Pocket PC device to feature the Opera browser.

Opera is planning on releasing a version of its browser for the Pocket PC later this month, for the very first time.

Slashdot interviews Opera's CEO

2006-01-03T13:13:00.000-05:00

Slashdot just posted its interview with Opera's CEO Jon von Tetzchner. The slashdot community submitted the interview questions.

Here are some quotes from the interview:

On Microsoft buying Opera:

We have been competing with Microsoft for a long time and I have not felt that they have always fought fairly. I would be disappointed if we were to end up in their hands and I find that very unlikely. I believe a lot of people at Opera would find them selves other work and that would include me.

On the lack of extension support in Opera:

Our concern with regards to extensions has been security and general usability. We have seen the number of security issues Microsoft has struggled with and many of them have been related to the APIs between the different applications. However, we do see a demand and we do tend to listen to demands from our users.

On the Opera going Open Source:

I do not believe that making Opera open source would benefit us all that much. I do not think it has benefited Netscape much either.

On a new Opera Logo:

No new logo is planned. Our feeling is that the current logo works well and it has been built over years. It is already being used by partners all across the world in promoting the fact that Opera comes with their products.

On Opera's innovative features being copied by other browsers:

Although our competitors have opened their eyes to some of our features, many are still only to be found in Opera and we aim to continue adding new ones. I am happy that we are considered the most innovate browser company and that is something we will be working hard to maintain. It is quite flattering that our features are being copied like that and I would prefer us to be in the position of being copied and not the other way around.

Google Goes Mobile With Opera

2006-01-03T12:24:00.000-05:00

Even though the Google-Opera rumors didn't materialize (yet), they did however manage to hammer out a deal.

Opera and Google have entered into an agreement where Google will be the default search partner for the mobile browsers: Opera Mobile and Opera Mini. Under the one-year contract, Opera will make Google Search a major part of the browser's home screen.

Pictures of Opera's ad in Times Square

2006-01-02T13:41:00.000-05:00

Unfortunately I couldn't make it to Times Square for the New Year's celebration, and thus I don't have any pictures to share with you of Opera's big ad in Times Square.

If any of my fellow Opera Watchers managed to snap a few pictures of Opera's ad, please send them to me and I will post them here. Many have already asked me for pictures, so I'm sure that it's in demand. Be the hero.

Our buddy Dan (dantesoft), who won the trip to New York's Times Square from Opera, wasn't able to make it there either due to visa problems. Instead Opera will be sending him (and Mira) on a vacation somewhere exotic.

A look ahead at Opera 2006

2005-12-29T22:59:00.000-05:00

As we're counting down the final days of 2005, let's take a peek ahead at Opera 2006.

Let's start with a topic that's probably on the forefront of most Opera users, the Opera market share. The Opera browser has been around for more than 10 years already, and all it mustered out was about 1 percent of the browser market share. Opera has taken many initiatives to increase its market share this past year, with its biggest one, no doubt, by removing the ads from the browser.

When Opera decided to remove the ads earlier this year, I was asked by a reporter to give an estimated time of when Opera would have a similar percent of the market share as what Firefox had at that time. Sadly it appears to me that I will be far off from my estimation. My opinion was published in an article, though I won’t say who published it.

Opera's user base is growing, but not as fast as we would like it. I hope that Opera won't be like Apple computer, which has been hovering around the same small (but devoted, like Opera) user base for what seems like ages.

Opera will be working hard on increasing its user base over the next year. I've been told that Opera is working on a new campaign towards bringing mass-market adoption to its desktop browser.

The focus of the new campaign will be on simplifying Opera's message for the mass consumer. Opera will focus more on the value of features than the features themselves. You may not care about the yellow security bar, but you do care that Opera will protect you from identity theft. You don't care about zoom, you want to see the page better. Those will be some of the more apparent tweaks.

It appears that Opera is also trying to establish more of a presence in the US market. It has opened multiple offices here (in the US) and is currently looking to hire some marketing people. This probably won't affect the desktop market, but the mobile market should see a boost as a result. Currently Opera's main user base is in Europe.

One thing I would definitely like to see in the coming year is the Opera browser being shipped together with Windows by PC manufactures. Other alternative browser, such as Firefox and Netscape, are already pre-installed by some manufactures; I certainly hope Opera is next.

Now that there is an increased awareness of alternative browsers, I believe that the Opera browser will have less of an issue with broken sites.

In coming year version 9 of Opera will be released, which will contain many new and important additions.

Opera will also be releasing a version of its browser for the Pocket PC for the first time ever. Pocket PC users have been waiting for this moment for a long time. The PocketPC version is expected to be released in January.

Opera Mini will also make it official debut in January. Opera is putting in a lot of money and marketing into making Opera Mini a huge success. The launch of Opera Mini is very different, and more challenging, than a launch of the desktop browser. I've been in touch with the people who are working on the marketing side of Opera Mini, and they are very much aware of the challenges that lie ahead to get Opera Mini out to the masses.

The mobile market seems to be the brightest for Opera, as it already has a solid foothold in that market. I expect to see Opera's growth with its mobile browser increase substantially.

Here at Opera Watch I'm working on some big changes, for the better (I hope), though it would be premature for me to talk about the details now.

I deeply appreciate your dedication and loyalty, and thanks for your continued support. You can continue to count on Opera Watch for the inside scoops and latest buzz on the Opera browser.

Looking forward to Opera 2006.

Slashdot to interview the man behind Opera

2005-12-29T13:45:00.000-05:00

Slashdot is soliciting questions for an interview with Opera's CEO Jon von Tetzchner.

Every so often Slashdot solicits questions for an interview; its editors select the top 10-12 questions.

I'd be curious to see the kind of questions the slashdot community comes up with, it has a reputation of being anti-Opera. When I was slashdotted last week, most of visitors coming from Slashdot were users of the Firefox browser, according to the server logs.

I found slashdot's post kind of interesting. See below.

From Slashdot:

Opera Software has gotten all kinds of media play lately, including rumors that both Google and Microsoft were buying the company. Whether you love or hate Opera, you've got to give them credit for building a decent browser and grabbing a small but noticeable market share in the face of competition from both MSIE and Firefox.
Co-founder/CEO Jon von Tetzchner is obviously responsible for at least some of this success -- and for much of the company's high press profile, due not only to the Opera Browser itself but to at least one whacky PR stunt and at least one high-profile beef with Microsoft. So who is this guy? Ask and find out.
He's obviously not your typical software company CEO, so we don't expect typical CEO-type answers from him.

On a side note, Priya Ganapati over at Red Herring Magazine had a Q&A session of her own with Opera's CEO.

Happy Holidays from Opera Watch

2005-12-23T12:48:00.000-05:00

Happy Opera holidays to all of my fellow Opera Watch readers.

Photo courtesy of Opera Software.

Is Opera looking to be bought?

2005-12-23T12:41:00.000-05:00

I was just talking to a reporter, who brought up an interesting point regarding all these rumors of Opera being acquired by larger companies.

The issue isn't whether Google or Microsoft was looking to buy Opera, but rather whether Opera is looking to sell itself. What is Opera's strategy? Do they want to remain independent and grow the company? Or sell to some other company?

I have spoken to a few top Opera insiders over the past week, and the feeling that I got was that Opera is not shopping itself around. One insider told me "Opera is his baby" (referring to Opera's founder and CEO) he would never sell it no matter the dollar size.

Opera CEO emphatically denies Microsoft takeover

2005-12-23T11:58:00.000-05:00

In an email this morning, Opera's CEO, Jon von Tetzchner, emphatically denied any takeover by Microsoft, saying "Just for the record: We are NOT about to sell out to MS."

Next company to acquire Opera?

2005-12-23T10:19:00.000-05:00

Given the recent surge in acquisition rumors (first Google, and now Microsoft), I thought it would be nice to see which company Opera Watch readers think will be in the next rumor claiming that it will purchase Opera.

Yahoo (Yahoopera)

Apple (Appera)

Nokia (Nopera)

McDonald's (McDopera)

Other

Vote here.

Rumor Control: Microsoft not buying Opera

2005-12-23T09:09:00.000-05:00

I have received several emails today from Opera Watch readers telling me about an article on CoolTechZone reporting that Microsoft bought Opera.

The article has been slashdotted, so I didn't have a chance to read it, however, Slashdot is quoting Opera's Berit Hanson "last week it was Google, this week it's Microsoft. If I was working for Microsoft I think I'd know it, but I'm still in Oslo, not Washington, still working for Opera."

This all started yesterday when John Dvorak wrote a commentary suggesting that for Microsoft to reclaim its momentum in the browser market it should buy Opera.

I happened to speak (by phone) with Microsoft's Robert Scoble last night, who told me that it would be extremely unlikely for Microsoft to buy Opera. He told me that if this were to occur it's likely that the US Justice Department would view this as a monopoly, and block the purchase.

Opera's phones have been ringing off the hook today, by the press seeking comment about this rumor.

New Year's Opera Ad in Times Square Finalized

2005-12-22T13:50:00.000-05:00

Opera has chosen one lucky Opera user to have his photo displayed on the gigantic ABC SuperSign in New York's Times Square on New Year's Eve.

The lucky person: Dan Alexandru (aka dantesoft) from Romania. Read his (interesting) submission here. Dan, you had my vote. For those of you who don't know Dan yet, he is very active on Opera's IRC channel (where I usually hang out), always helping people out with Opera support.

His picture will be part of a video tribute to Opera users as part of Opera's 10th anniversary. Starting on December 26 and climaxing on New Year's Eve, the video tribute will be on rotation at least nine times a day for a whole week.

Dan (dantesoft) pointed out to me that my picture also made it to the video (see screenshot below).

I don't know if I will make it to Times Square for New Year's Eve, if any of you are planning on being there, please contact me. I would love to get some pictures of Times Square with all the crowds and the Opera video in the background.

Watch the video.

Me (Daniel Goldman) with other Opera users in an ad in Times Square on New Year's Eve 2006

Dvorak: Microsoft should buy Opera

2005-12-22T09:13:00.000-05:00

John Dvorak (bio), from PC Magazine, suggests that for Microsoft to regain momentum in the browser business, it should ditch the entire Internet Explorer and buy Opera.

From his commentary:

"But could Microsoft be planning a bigger surprise for everyone? The smart move for the company would be for Microsoft to discard the entire code base of Internet Explorer and buy the Opera browser (from Norway) outright and use it instead."
"Microsoft could buy the whole company for less than $400 million. It paid that much for WebTV and has little to show for it."
"If this [were to happen] (happening), the biggest loser might be Mozilla Firefox since many consider Opera to not only be the best browser available, but the fastest and the one with the best page rendering engine."

The chances of this ever happening are slim to none. As a source within Opera told me last week that there have been offers to buy Opera before by big companies with big budgets and no matter the offer, the CEO has turned them down. "Opera is his baby".

It would be interesting to see, if this were to ever happen (big if), what the Microsoft haters would think about this, and whether they would stop using Opera.

Last week there was talk that Google might buy Opera, which Opera vehemently denied.

A look back at 2005

2005-12-21T14:02:00.000-05:00

As the final days of the year 2005 slowly fade away, I thought it would be nice to pause and look at the big happenings of 2005 in the Opera world, both the good and bad as well.

Here are some that I compiled:

Opera 8 released with overwhelming response

Opera boss takes a dip

Controversy over Opera's PC World award

Opera announces it will stop spoofing its User Agent as IE

Opera adds support for Bit Torrent

Opera introduces Opera Mini: A web browser for virtually all mobile phones

Opera Goes Ad-Free

New Opera Community Site Online

No doubt, Opera going ad-free is by far the biggest Opera headline of 2005. I think Opera's CEO would agree with me on that as well, after all he said "I hope 2005 will be remembered, not as the year of my overly optimistic attempt to swim to the USA, but as the year the Opera browser went free".

This year has been an exciting year for the Opera community, we have seen an increased awareness in alternative browsers; and now with Opera having removed the banner ads, it appears the perception of Opera by many has changed for the better.

Some of the Opera lowlights of 2005 include the release of many popular products/services by Google that weren't immediately supported by the Opera browser; Opera was a bit slow to add support for AJAX. Also the controversy over Opera's PC World award created some negative press towards Opera, though I think Opera handled it professionally.

Overall, however, Opera has had a positive year. We have seen a boost in the interaction between Opera (the company) and the Opera community; the new community site contributed to this a lot.

Opera has managed to keep a good record on security, compared to other major browsers, including Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox; it had the fewest security vulnerabilities according to the independent security firm Secunia.

I don't have the exact numbers to show it, but I would think it's safe to say that Opera has attracted many new users to its desktop browser. More than 1 million users downloaded the Opera browser in the first 48 hours since it went ad-free; and according to Opera's server logs a majority of downloads came from Internet Explorer users.

The average daily download rate of the Opera browser for the desktop has more than doubled since going ad-free, compared with the previous rate of before the release of Opera 8.5. The current download rate of the desktop browser stands at 80,000 - 100,000 per day.

One notable area where we haven't seen much of an increase is Opera file size, despite all the new features added.

What are some of your Opera highlights (and lowlights) of 2005?

P.S. Coming soon... A look ahead to 2006.

Screenshot of the new Opera Config

2005-12-20T09:28:00.000-05:00

Here is a sneak peak of the new 'Opera Config' look, which will be included with the next preview release of Opera 9.

The vast majority of Opera options and tweaks now live in the powerful Opera Config, to be used mostly by power users.

Opera Mini quietly available worldwide

2005-12-20T09:17:00.000-05:00

InfoWorld is reporting that Opera has quietly lifted restrictions that previously allowed only residents of some Nordic countries and Germany to download Opera Mini.

The official launch of Opera Mini is planned for January.

Washington Post: Opera difficult to decipher

2005-12-18T14:38:00.000-05:00

From a review of the Firefox browser in today's Washington Post edition:

"The Opera browser is a different case: It's now free and runs faster and uses less memory than Firefox, but it's also a bit more difficult to decipher."

Rob Pegoraro, the reviewer (and Firefox user), fails to mention why Opera is difficult to decipher. Has he seen Opera 8?

Microsoft's Live.com to support Opera 9, after all

2005-12-16T09:29:00.000-05:00

Microsoft's new Live.com site will have support for the Opera 9 browser, after all.

The Live.com team has been working closely with Opera to make Opera 9 a supported browser. I'm currently using a technical preview of Opera 9, and not all the functionality of the site seem to work at the moment, even though the live.com team included the preview version in the list of supported browsers. Hopefully we'll see a change with the next preview version of Opera 9.

In early November, when Microsoft released a beta of live.com, Opera was snubbed out on the list of supported browsers.

Microsoft is planning on moving many of the MSN services over to Live.com, in addition to adding new ones. There is also a rumor out there that Hotmail will be renamed and that it will eventually be part of Live.com.

There are many Opera users out there that use Hotmail and the MSN portal, which is why it's important for Opera to have the live.com site compatible with its browser.

Kudos to the live.com team.

Comparison of Mobile Browser Rendering (with screenshots)

2005-12-16T00:18:00.000-05:00

With the recent speculation of an Opera acquisition by Google, many have speculated as to why Google would be interested in Opera.

One of the key points for Opera is their strength in the mobile browser industry. Over the last year more than 14 million mobile phones were sold with the Opera browser, in addition to being available for download on many other mobile phones and devices.

Mark Wilton-Jones, over at 'How to Create', did some research and analysis on how the popular mobile browsers stack up against each other with regards to how they handle and display various webpages. The browsers tested include Pocket Internet Explorer, NetFront, Minimo, Series 60 Browser, Konqueror Embedded, Opera, and Opera Mini.

It does not take too much effort to realize that only two browsers successfully coped with all the pages, and they share a common name. Both the Opera mobile browser and Opera Mini seem to cope with difficult pages far better than the other device browsers. "Its low resource usage, and small footprint are also very important benefits. All in all, Opera manages to outshine the other device browsers."

See for yourself the results, with lots of screenshots.

(Mark, perhaps next time you can use Opera Watch as your test site ;-) )

For those of you keeping score, Mark is also the author of the popular 'Browser Speed Comparison' analysis.

--
Via Lawmune

Opera's stock rises amid speculation of a Google takeover

2005-12-15T13:43:00.000-05:00

Shares of Opera Software, which is publicly traded on the Oslo Stock Exchange, leapt to their highest level since the beginning of October, according to Reuters, after speculation that Google was looking to acquire Opera.

At the close of trading today, Opera's stock was up more than 5% for the day.

Rumor: Google to buy Opera, according to Yahoo Europe president

2005-12-14T17:10:00.000-05:00

Pierre Chappaz, the former president of Yahoo Europe, claims to have a source, whom he says is generally very well informed, who told him that Google is planning on buying the Opera web browser.

I must say that I find this very hard to believe; after all, Google recently hired some Mozilla/Firefox people, in addition to being an active supporter of the open source browser.

If this in fact were true, it wouldn’t be the first time that Opera has been approached by a major company for a buyout. Back in 1996 Sun Microsystems made an offer to buy Opera for about £9 million ($16.8 million US). A while back an Opera spokeswoman told me that they have been approached by major companies in the past but Opera's CEO, Jon von Tetzchner, has always declined the offers, no matter the dollar size.

An Opera official outright denied this claim, after I asked about it, saying "Rumors come and go. Google is not buying Opera."

Perhaps there is a bit of truth to this, maybe Google is collaborating with Opera on some project that we don't know about yet. Who knows?

--
Thanks to Nao for the tip.

Opera buys ad space in Times Square for New Year's Eve

2005-12-12T11:03:00.000-05:00

Opera will pay tribute to one lucky Opera user with his or her photo and the big Opera logo on the gigantic ABC SuperSign in New York's Times Square on New Year's Eve.

Nearly one million partygoers will witness the super sized fan tribute on the 585 square foot (that's 54 square meters!) screen. This advertising space is one the most high-profile New Year's party in the world, Times Square. I've been told that Opera has rented the ad space for a week.

To be the lucky Opera user, all you have to do is send Opera your photograph, along with the reason why you think you deserve to be featured on the big screen. To top it off, Opera will fly (or bicycle) the lucky Opera user with a guest to New York City for the New Year's celebrations, where you will be staying at one of New York's premiere hotels and receive two tickets to ABC's New Year's Eve party.

The deadline for signing up is December 22nd, 9am CET.

Opera to Hold Big New Years Event in New York City

2005-12-08T13:01:00.000-05:00

Opera Watch Exclusive:

Opera is planning on a major event for the Opera Community members on New Years Day. The event will be held in New York City, according to a top source in Opera.

Though the event will be held in New York, it will involve the entire community wherever you live. But the "neat factor" will be higher for those that are there.

Opera is set to unveil a major surprise for the Opera community. "It's going to be something fun... something kind of strange a bit", said the source.

I live not far from New York and I hope to be there. Perhaps I'll do some live Opera Watch blogging from the event, if I have internet connection.

Stay tuned.

Is Opera bragging too much?

2005-11-29T13:31:00.000-05:00

Not everyone likes to hear Opera brag about its download numbers. David Berlind, the executive editor of ZDNet, complains about this in his latest blog posting.

In a press release, Opera claimed that online security concerns have prompted record downloads of Opera 8.51, which has been downloaded more than a million times in the first week since its release. Here is a snippet from his blog "Is this a new PR tactic? 1. Issue broken software. 2. Wait until a few million people download it. 3. Issue a fix. 4. Wait until at least 1 million people download the fix. 5. Use the opportunity to blame your competitor for the 'good news?' "

When I first read the press release yesterday, I thought it was kind of odd. I didn't really see the link between 'online security concerns' and the popularity of Opera 8.51 (that's why I didn't write about it yesterday). I thought it was definitely a PR move by Opera, after all it needs lots of it -- Firefox seems to be getting much more press coverage (especially with it's new release today).

Widgets Support in Opera 9?

2005-11-28T13:40:00.000-05:00

According to an article in PCWorld Magazine Opera 9 will add support for widgets, which are small external programs that use Opera's engine and can run on the desktop (like Yahoo's Konfabulator).

I'm not entirely sure about the accuracy of their claim. I spoke with one of Opera's desktop developers who hadn't heard of the widgets claim until we spoke. Perhaps PCWorld is referring to the widgets support that comes with the Opera Platform (mobile).

An Opera spokesman wouldn't confirm to me anything about widget support in Opera 9.

Get creative with Opera and the Nokia 770

2005-11-28T13:39:00.000-05:00

To kick off the release of Opera's debut on the Nokia 770 Internet tablet, Opera is giving a couple away in a contest (first mentioned here exclusively on Opera Watch).

To win the Nokia 770, print out a picture of the Nokia 770 and show (via an image or video) how you would use it if you had the real thing. The winner will be chosen in a poll conducted on the Opera Community site.

Opera is also conducting another contest based on the Opera Platform (mobile).

I'm working on some of my own creative ideas now; I really want the Nokia 770

A truce in the browser wars for the sake of security

2005-11-23T12:20:00.000-05:00

Here is a follow up to my previous post about the major browser venders getting together to discuss browser security. The Opera developers who attended the meeting just wrote their take on the matter.

Here is a snippet:

"It's good to see all of us put aside our marketing wars for a few days and get down to what really matters: making the Internet a safer place for the people who use our products, whether its Opera, Firefox, IE or Konqueror. The onus for end-user security increasingly rests on the browser vendors. After all, it's our products that stand between the scammers and the scammed.
We can compete over so many aspects of our products, but security at this level requires cooperation and collaboration. And by sitting down at the same table, we have done more to enhance the security of the Internet than we could competing alone."

Simplifying the Opera Message

2005-11-22T13:46:00.000-05:00

I mentioned in passing yesterday that Opera was working on a new campaign towards bringing mass-market adoption of its desktop browser. I was able to obtain a bit more details on this new campaign.

The focus of the new campaign will be on simplifying Opera's message for the mass consumer. Opera will focus more on the value of features than the features themselves. "We're going to talk in terms that the average consumer can understand."

You may not care about the yellow security bar, but you do care that Opera will protect you from identity theft. You don't care about zoom, you want to see the page better. Those will be some of the more apparent tweaks.

I'd be interested to hear some of your ideas and suggestions on how to help promote the Opera browser. In particular how do we get the average browser user to give Opera a try? Please post your comments below.

Nokia 770 released with Opera browser, Opera contest giveaway

2005-11-22T12:27:00.000-05:00

Nokia released their new internet tablet, the Nokia 770, a handheld tablet for Web-browsing over a wireless broadband connection.

The pre-installed browser that is shipped with the Nokia 770 is the Opera browser. An Opera official pointed out to me that Nokia doesn't highlight that they are using the Opera browser, but we all know better of course. Read more about it here.

I was told that Opera is working on a contest to give away a Nokia 770 on its community site. They hope to have the contest up in the coming weeks. Stay tuned.

Microsoft teams up with Opera and Firefox to discuss browser security

2005-11-21T21:21:00.000-05:00

Last Wednesday, the Internet Explorer (IE) development team met with representatives from Opera, Mozilla (Firefox), and Konqueror to discuss browser security.

They discussed various security issues, including how to handle secure (https) sites, security certificate standards, and anti-phishing methods. You can read more about it on the IE blog and on KDE News.

It's about time that Microsoft recognizes the severity of browser security.

Opera 8.51 unofficially released

2005-11-21T11:13:00.000-05:00

Opera 8.51 has been unofficially released on Opera's FTP directory.

Opera has not made any official announcement regarding this release at this time, so I'm not aware of the specific updates. Perhaps it's nothing more than security updates; I assume Opera is focusing on new features for the next major release, Opera 9, at this time.

The official changelog for Opera 8.51 (Windows) will be posted here, when it's made official.

Update (11/22/05): Opera 8.51 has now been made official by Opera. This latest release fixes a security issue found in the Flash Player as well as a severe stability issue with the Acrobat Reader 7.0.5 plug-in.

Opera desktop download rate doubles since going ad-free

2005-11-21T09:25:00.000-05:00

The average daily download rate of the Opera browser for the desktop has more than doubled since going ad-free, compared with the previous rate of before the release of Opera 8.5.

The current download rate of the desktop browser stands at 80,000 - 100,000 per day.

According to the latest figures released by Opera, more than 5.5 million users have downloaded the Opera browser since removing the ads.

In related news, Opera is preparing a big marketing campaign towards bringing mass-market adoption of its desktop browser.

First figures of Opera Mini usage

2005-11-21T09:10:00.000-05:00

Since its launch a few months ago, Opera Mini has been downloaded and used on more than 450,000 unique mobile phones. Approximately 1,000,000 pages are currently being downloaded per day through Opera's servers.

Member of the Week (Satire)

2005-11-18T12:01:00.000-05:00

This week we would like to highlight the Opera Server Monkeys.

Their work in maintaining and operating the Opera Community site deserves our recognition. If you're a regular visitor, you most likely have bumped into them one time or another.

Below are some examples (screenshots) of some of their hard work.

Where is Opera's Update Manager?

2005-11-16T11:49:00.000-05:00

Earlier today I fired up my Firefox browser for some web development testing that I was doing. While using it, Firefox's new Update Manger alerted me about an available update. This got me thinking about how the Opera browser handles its updates.

Currently, each time an update is made available, the entire browser including the updates must be downloaded and installed manually.

The process of installing updates can be confusing to the average user. There are no instructions that come with the download file. Installing the browser in the same folder of the current installation is not the most obvious step.

I think, with all due respect, Firefox got it right with the way it handles its updates. Opera should take a serious look at Firefox's update process.

In short, instead of downloading the entire browser with each update, only the updated parts of the browser are downloaded. The browser has some kind of Update Manager that takes care of the downloading and installation of the updates -- without much user intervention.

There should be no need to download the entire browser again, save it, and then manually install it with each update. Just imagine if Microsoft Windows would require you to reinstall the entire OS with each windows update.

I spoke with an Opera developer about this a few months ago, at the time when Firefox first released their update manager. He told me that it was once discussed at one of his meetings, but that they had no immediate plans to implement it.

In a time where browsers are greatly scrutinized and updates come frequently, it's important to have a simple and easy update process. By making the update process more transparent to the user, more people would keep their browsers updated with the latest security patches. Just by looking at the log of visitors to this site, you will see that many still haven't upgraded their browsers to the latest version, Opera 8.5.

Opera Platform brings AJAX applications to the mobile phone

2005-11-15T09:01:00.000-05:00

Opera today released a beta version of Opera Platform SDK, a software development kit for developing and running Web applications on mobile phones.

Opera Platform allows developers to create platform independent applications based on well known Web technologies such as HTML, CSS and JavaScript. The combination of these technologies is popularly referred to as AJAX. AJAX is a Web development technique that is increasingly used to develop new Internet services such as Google Maps and Gmail.

One of the developers who worked on the Opera Platform, Arve Bersvendsen, has written a short summary of the features and capabilities it has.

Yahoo discriminating against the Opera browser

2005-11-14T20:08:00.000-05:00

We often hear about the complaints that some websites give the Opera browser different code (many times broken code) than it does to other browsers, such as Internet Explorer (IE).

For those of you non-techies, JavaSript and HTML code is what makes a webpage work. The code you receive when you visit a webpage may depend on the type of browser you're using.

Hallvord Steen, from Opera Software, created a neat animated comparison between the code Opera gets from Yahoo Mail and the code IE gets. This gives an indication of how much of the functionality Yahoo gives to IE-users that is omitted from the version they send Opera-users.

A picture is worth a thousand words.

New Opera Browser, version 8.5, for the Series 60 Mobile Phones

2005-11-14T08:44:00.000-05:00

Opera today released a new version of their browser for the Series 60 mobile phones.

The new version includes a password manager, zoom functionality, and more. It's also equipped with Opera's Small-Screen Rendering technology, which enables small Internet devices to display full HTML-enabled Internet without any horizontal scrolling.

Opera 8.5 for Series 60 Phones Unofficially Released

2005-11-11T08:22:00.000-05:00

Jonspencer emailed me to let me know that Opera 8.5 for the Series 60 mobile phones has been released to some FTP servers, though interestingly enough it not on Opera's FTP server.

This release was initially scheduled for yesterday, according to a post by the Opera Symbian Team in the Opera forums, however due to the partial release of Opera Mini by Opera this week, the release date was pushed to Monday November 14th.

It looks like Opera wants to get the maximum PR with each release, therefore keeping a minimum interval between releases. I don't blame them; Opera needs all the PR possible to survive in this new browser era. The Pocket PC version of Opera has also been delayed, likely for this reason as well.

If you download this version, beware that this is an unofficial release. Download at your own risk.

--
Download links:

Europe, Middle East & Africa version: 1 2 3

North America & South America version: 1 2 3

Asian-Pacific version: 1 2 3

Opera for the Pocket PC Delayed

2005-11-10T09:07:00.000-05:00

Opera has delayed the first ever release of the browser for the Pocket PC (Technical Preview), according to Eskil Sivertsen.

The plan was to release it by mid/end of October, as reported here on Opera Watch (exclusively), but was delayed due to a change in priorities.

It is speculated that the new release date will be sometime in December.

Update (11/24/05): The release date has now been pushed to January, according to Eskil.

Opera Mini Introduction

2005-11-10T08:38:00.000-05:00

Opera today posted on their website a small video presentation explaining Opera Mini.

Here, at Opera Watch, I have written about Opera Mini multiple times already, if you haven't really understood what it's all about, head over and watch the video.

Opera Mini is an amazing new technology. In short, not all mobile devices are powerful enough to run regular browsers. The Opera Mini, however, uses a remote server to pre-process the page before sending it to the phone, thus using less of the phone's resources thereby allowing it to run on nearly all mobile devices. Getting Opera Mini (free) is as easy as downloading a ringtone. It's a pretty neat idea.

Also today, Opera Mini was released for users in Germany. Opera Mini is also available all over the world exclusively to Opera Community members.

Sneak Peek of Opera Mini Exclusively for Opera Community Members

2005-11-03T13:05:00.000-05:00

Opera is offering a sneak peek of Opera Mini exclusively to Opera Community Members, no matter where you live.

Currently Opera Mini is available to everyone only in select countries. Opera expects to have global availability by the end of the year.

You must have an Opera Community account (register here free of charge) to participate in this exclusive Opera Mini offer.

I've been told that this Opera Mini is a special version for Opera Community Members.

In an effort to spice up some enthusiasm for Opera Mini, Opera created an Opera Mini blogging competition. The one who writes the most popular blog post (in the Opera community blogs), using Opera Mini, will win a Nokia N70 mobile phone with the full Opera browser. There are additional prizes as well for the 25 most popular blog posts.