Category: Opera Browser

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Browser Wars Revisited

A recent post had me taking another look at different browsers. I have four currently installed (well, five, sort of, in different physical machines–maybe even seven, depending on how one want to count things), and I try to make use of them all from time to time. All the browsers I currently use to one degree or another–Opera, Chrome (and SWIron, a de-Google-tracking Chome-based browser), Firefox and Internet Exploder–are generally Good Enough for most folks’ use, but the latter three all have serious drawbacks for me for the ways I prefer to use a browser.

Chrome, Firefox and Internet Exploder install as “crippled” compared with an installation of Opera, right “out of the box” as it were. Chrome comes closest to Opera for built-in features, but close enough only if one were using the browsers to play horseshoes with hand grenades. (*heh* Metaphors are for mixing, IMO :-)) None of the three offer the kind of flexibility and customization Opera does without having to add widgets or extensions. Just look at the form-filling functions of the browsers, for one. Opera offers–right off a fresh install–more form-filling options than the others. And whether using “opera:config” or text editing ini files, Opera offers in-depth customization that’s either not possible or extremely difficult (without some form of extension added in) in the other browsers. And having offered mouse gestures, tabbed browsing and features such as Speed Dial for years before the other browsers, Opera simply does all those elements more elegantly, as is illustrated by the new, built-in, Stacked Tabs feature in Opera 11 (beta) that performs functions similar to (but again, more elegantly than) the Firefox Tab Candy extension that Mozilla is now in the process of building into FF4.

Oh, there’re more reasons why I still prefer Opera, and the new Opera 11 beta is adding to them, but apart from the security concerns I continue to have about IE and FF (FF had more security problems last year than the other three browsers combined; all eventually fixed, IIRC, but still… ), any of these four will work for most users.

Safari? Not even on my radar any more. Just not Good Enough, period. Some of the ‘nix-only browsers like Konqueror and Seamonkey? *yech!* Definitely Not Good Enough for regular use. (*heh* My first download/install on any new ‘nix machine–physical or virtual–after system updates is always Opera, usually the latest beta, despite warnings from the OSes that “down” versions are preferred for stability. So far, the Opera Software site has always selected the best version for the particular ‘nix variant I’m using, and installing has been as easy, if not easier, in recent ‘nix distros as in Windows.)

That’s how it is here at twc central. One user here uses SWIron about as often as Opera, but that’s the largest divergence from twc central’s norm, and mostly because advanced browser use just isn’t on that user’s horizon, so Chrome’s minimalist approach works pretty well in her use.

BTW, used SWIron to post this. PITA, but it works for simple things like this all right, I suppose. 🙂

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Dumbing Down to “Catch Up”

Opera 11 browser will finally allow extensions to the browser to be installed. The vast crowd of Firefox Zombies may now pay some attention to Opera, though for the wrong reasons, of course. A commenter at the Opera Desktop Team blog summed up my first thoughts pretty well:

But hey, progress I guess. Even if it’s progress to play “catch up” with other barebones, feature-poor browsers that need extensions to make them complete.

Indeed. I use Firefox and Chrome as much as I can stand to do so, and find them to be clumsy, feature-poor browsers that very obviously need extensions just to emulate many of the basic functionalities already built in (and for quite some time) to Opera. And I have yet to find extensions for those browsers that allow me to easily emulate some of the more advanced features I use every day in Opera.

Oh, well. Maybe folks who simply haven’t looked at Opera because it “doesn’t have extensions” (that it doesn’t usually need) will look at it now that the desktop team has decided to catch back with those “feature-poor browsers that need extensions to make them complete.” (I can recall one loon “tech writer” griping a few years ago because Opera didn’t have an extension for ad blocking or for mouse gestures. Idiot. Those are built in features of Opera.)

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Well, It’s About Time

I’ve been running Opera 10.70.3488 on my Windows boxes for some time now. Yes, it’s still beta, but remarkably stable. I’ve been avoiding some builds with known regressions I don’t want to mess with, but in a few mins now, I’ll start moving my Windows boxes to Opera 10.70.9047.

The Linux compies will have to wait for tomorrow. Why? My cable service is experiencing a severe hitch in its getalong, tonight. SPent an hour w/so-called customer support just to finally get to a service person who would do a check to see that, yes, my (brand new Motorola SB 6120) modem was indeed just hunky dory, and that the problem was very obviously NOT on my end.

The Win version is just a 12MB download, but instead of being virtually instantaneous, it’s taking 15 minutes or so to struggle downstream to me.

And don’t even get me talking about upload “speeds”.

Readers here will recall this isn’t the first time I’ve had these issues, although almost all of them have been in the last year or so. And despite the ever worsening customer “service” and the maddening service outages and slowdowns, this is still the best option in internet service here in America’s Third World County, by an order of magnitude. Literally.

*sigh*

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Almost Prime Time

Microsoft offers some decent free services through its Windows Live stuff. And some crap. Among the crap is Windows Live Mail, truly an abomination. Among the decent services, Skydrive’s 25GB of free storage, accessible from anywhere you can fire up any web browser, in any OS I’ve tried, is pretty handy.

In the middle, stuck on “pretty good idea, lousy implementation” is Windows Live Mesh (in beta), a service that allows you to share devices’ resources on the web. Nice, but implementation sucks. Only 5GB direct storage, but that’s OK. “Likes” only Internet Exploder. Must use Active X controls. Nu-uh. Not going there. Bad juju. Requires adding the Windows Live Mesh application to enable access. Access from a ‘nix box? Notsomuch.

Opera Unite allows sharing files, media, etc., via a simple browser interface. Much easier, simple access and access control. All inside the browser. Opera, that is. Since I already use Opera for almost all my browsing anyway, that’s just fine by me.

Uninstalling the Mesh app. I have no use for it, since it really only “likes” Internet Exploder and requires using Active X, and I’m just not going to do that. Nice try, M$, but that one is definitely in need of some serious changes.

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Once Again, Opera Browser

Although the reviewer in the video below gets things mostly right *heh* he has a blind spot about add-ons. Sure, there are fewer add-ons available for Opera, but that’s primarily because so much that other browsers require one to add on to get what I consider basic functionality are already built into the Opera browser. But since the reviewer has apparently not used Opera all that much, yet, I’m willing to cut him some slack on that. Note that this review is of an early alpha of Opera 10.50, and that Opera is now in a solid release of 10.50 with beta builds available beyond that.

Crashes the reviewer refers to in the alpha are a thing of the past, for me at least, now that Opera 10.5x is out of alpha/beta status, and I remain sold, as my earlier posts affirm. No clunky, kludgy browser for me, TYVM.

Here’s a promo video from Opera Software. Lots of claims that are pretty well verified by recent testing by third parties. A few snippets about unique features.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_mU7lkE-sA

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Don’t Even Go There

I keep giving Firefox and Chrome (and even Safari–heck, I even give Internet Exploder the occasional opportunity to redeem itself!) a shot at my eyeballs, and they all consistently fall short, so don’t even go there.

It’s cross platform, so you have little excuse to keep using the kludgy, clumsy, dumbed-down browsers touted by sell-out tech writers and icognoscenti that require all kinds of add-ons just to almost reach Opera’s basic functionality. It used to frustrate the daylights out of me to work on someone else’s machine and be forced to use an antiquated, kludgy, insecure, clumsy, dumbed-down browser that didn’t even have built-in mouse gesturing, but now I carry a thumb drive with Opera Portable, so I don’t have to put up with other folks’ lack of good sense. *heh* Sadly, Opera Portable is still in version 10.51, but that’s not so very bad, since the 10.52 version I’m running (Build 3347) is a beta–a rock solid beta but still not an official release.

One of the less important new things (well, since 10.51) is the “O” tab in the “Tabs” bar that allows accessing most of what used to be in the menu bar by default. It allows those folks who’ve been seduced by the dumbed-down Chrome interface to have a less “cluttered” view, but still allows folks like me who like having a LOT of information and ready manipulations available to invoke the more informative menu bar.

But little things like making transitions easier for folks used to using a dumb browser are just lil candy sprinkles. The real improvements (even over 10.51) are in security and speed–particularly the java engine. Just download it and give it a run at your eyeballs.

BTW, not using Opera Mobile on your smartphone? Think the iPhone/Safari combo is top dog? Maybe not. (When my youngest nephew got his new Wii, several years ago, he was pleasantly surprised it came with an offer for a free web browser. Opera. And I stopped being surprised years ago that IBM/Lenovo included an imbedded version of Opera in a preboot environment. Just sayin’.)

BTW, brief not-very-techie note: Yes, Opera does seem to use “a lot of memory”. But note that the image above shows I have 30 tabs open. *heh* About average, especially since the first 10 are ALWAYS open and “pinned” so they cannot be accidentally closed. And “a lot of memory”–currently somewhere around 100MB with those 30 tabs open–is a relative term on a modern computer with 4-8GB of physical memory.

BTW#2–a not-at-all-techie note: My install of Opera looks a tad different to what you may download and install for reasons other than my affection for the more informative Menu Bar; I have for years skinned whatever installation of Opera I may have on Windows computers or on Linux or BSD computers differently so that I remember which OS I am browsing in. Yes, the OS makes that little difference (apart from how the scrollwheel works in Linux, but that’d be a whole post in itself). The “skin” in the graphic above is the current version of Tobs Theater Paper (TTT-Paper 7.2).

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“Of shoes and ships and sealing wax, of carpenters and kings… “

IOW, this is yet another post avoiding politics and current events. Oh, I suppose I could revert to “Kipling Tuesday” and let his ascerbic words on “current events of yore” stand in stead of my own poor commentary, but I just don’t feel like doing that today.

Instead, how’s that browser war going for ya?

*heh*

I’m still down on Internet Exploder and every version of Chrome I’ve given a shot at my eyeballs. Safari and Firefox are about dead even with me on the scale of “so-so-to-lukewarm” and the newest Opera has some “features” that were initially a bit off-putting.

Yeh, how’s that for a surprise? Me, issuing a mini-micro-nano-pan of any version of Opera. Well, the latest Opera 10.50 beta had me ticked off for a bit when the menu bar was AWOL. That meant accessing all sorts of functions from erasing private data to customizing keyboard shortcuts were hidden. I guess that’s fine if Opera wanted to be Chrome, but it chapped my gizzard. Oh. Accessible–mostly–from the new “Opera button” on the left side of the Tab Bar, but only mostly. To get the full spread, I had to use that “O” button to reinstall the menu bar. It would certainly have been nice for Opera to have noted that lil “feature” somewhere on the “New Features” page that is linked to on the “Starting Opera” page that is loaded on the first start of the browser, but no, had to dig and fumble around for it. An astounding misplay by Opera Software.

Still, once I had access to importing my bookmarks and had recustomized some things, the 10.50 beta did seem to be just the ticket to wipe out the bad taste of other recent browser tryouts. For a wee taste of just one feature that Opera still maintains that is at least an order of magnitude better than other browsers I’ve tried to like, here’s a screen shot of one of the multi-tabbed “Preferences” dialogs with a drill-down mini-dialog popped up:

Of course, the multiple, granularized preferences dialogs available in easy-peasy GUI format from within the browser are just the tip of the iceberg in Opera customization. Since it also uses easily-edited ini files, it’s even more customizable that way. And, of course, additional tweaks are available via opera:config typed into the addressbar. Multiple power levels of customizing available multiple, easily-accessed (once the “menu button for dummies–or Chrome-Firefox-Safari-Internet Exploder users”–is deactivated *heh*)

And wide-ranging customization via features already built into the browser is just one of many reasons I prefer Opera over its imitators. *heh*

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Who Needs the “Right” Way?

Apparently I don’t. *heh* Sharing folders between my Linux Mint VM and the Windows 7 it was running on wasn’t really all that straightforward and I “needed” (OK, wanted) access to some files while in Mint–and to “drop some files off” in appropriate places from Mint to Win7. So, rather than sit down and just make file sharing between the physical computer and the virtual one work “right” I just used the Opera Unite feature I’d already enabled on the Opera 10.10 beta I was running on the Win 7 “side”.

Yeh, yeh, that meant I had to download and install the same Unite-enabled beta for Linux, too. Big deal. A few seconds’ download and install. Seriously. Mind you, this is really only so I can designate shared folders on the virtual machine as well.

And there I was: able to log onto folders I’d already shared using Opera Unite on the Windows 7 physical computer and drop in files I’d downloaded on the Linux “side” as well as access some media files and a pdf I wanted to read on the Linux side.

Nice. Now, if I just pack up the Opera Unite (XXXX computer, whatever :-)) url and password onto a flash drive, I can easily and securely access files on my physical machine (and even the VM, if I keep it “on”) when I’m out and away. Yes, I can do a similar thing using Logmein, but this is easier, more lightweight and just plain more elegant. Fun.