Why Opera is not So popular being the coolest browser?

[ah-blabla]

Chrome looked fair, yet a bit weak on interface. Faster at first, but after some use , it slows down too. and whenever you go to a browsers advanced options and it opens IE's Options, that tells me one thing, it is a small interrface over IE's core. So you people waiting for Google OS, I know what you are gettin.
There are many of us coders that built our own browsers way back in VB5 and Delphi5 with "components" just like this. it is just a nicely wired interface running windows ie api code as far as I can see. njoy the illusion, and for a small fee, i can build you one with your name on it.

Not at all. Chromium at least (I.e. what Chrome is based on) is based on Webkit, and works on other OSs. The IE options under Window$ is more to do with Window$ integration than anything else. It is a completely new browser as such, with a better security architecture than most. I actually am beginning to quite like the interface as well. Lack of AdBlock, Cookie Monster and NoScript which I use in FF is what's keeping me away now, but no doubt someone will make something like that.
If you don't believe me, look at the project page here.

If you want a basic, baseline browser, that is customizable to your needs, firefox seems the way to go, as the program itself is very efficent, and doesn't swallow ram or cpu-but that increases as you increase the add ons.

I wouldn't call FF the most memory efficient of browsers, however 3.5 seems to be a large improvement over 3.0. (Still 463MB with 25 tabs, but memory leakage seems to have gone, I used to get 800-900MB in the past). However CPU usage has increased slightly, and it isn't always lightning responsive for me.

 

[natrobius]

I use internet explorer a lot more than I used to, but I still like Google Chrome above the other browsers. I have never experienced the slowdown mentioned on this forum personally. In my experience it has been faster at loading just about any page, and has reliably supported everything I've viewed. FireFox was great in the beginning, but I think it's just too bloated now. I prefer the minimalistic approach of Chrome.

 

[caseypaite]

Opera is a cool browser with lots of features built in. And with the upcoming Opera Unite package(still in beta) a lot of innovative features have been added. But one big setback is thet whenever I use any Google websites the Gtalk app can't load. Furthermore some form based sites support only IE and Firefox. So, I prefer Firefox for browsing and use Opera as a mail client, feed reader and Opera Unite Beta to serve up my mp3 collection for my friends.

 

[dharshan]

in a nutshell, opera has a really good product with a lot of features (most of the features), but Opera team needs to polish them up and finalize there work!
so that it works well most of the time!

 

[joejv4]

I looked at Opera a couple years back while trying to find an alternative to IE. At that point, if I recall correctly, Firefox was free and Opera charged for it's full-feature browser. That got me leaning toward Firefox. Once I started adding plug-ins, changed the skin and kept up with FF upgrades, I was hooked.

As has been mentioned in this thread before, the extensibility of FireFox is my main reason I use it. Some pages require IE to render properly - FF has the IE-Tab add-on. I want to use FTP, there is FireFTP. I want to look at my website real-time - Firebug, I use NoScript to protect my PC. DownThemAll works great. There are new FF add-ons released all the time. I can see no reason at all to change, now that I'm comfortable and happy with FireFox.

I think probably that Opera hurt themselves by charging for a full-featured version of their browser. When you think about it, with multiple free browsers available, why would people pay for a different browser?

I don't know if Opera is now free or not, but I am very happy with FF, and do not intend to change at this point.

 

[farscapeone]

Today Opera launched 10.10 version with Opera Unite. Where's Firefox now

 

[ah-blabla]

Today Opera launched 10.10 version with Opera Unite. Where's Firefox now

Firefox is staying a browser and not mutating into a gargantuan all-in-one program...

 

[farscapeone]

Yes, but it's still using more memory and takes more to start anyway.

 

[Gouri]

Yes, but it's still using more memory and takes more to start anyway.

+1 for that.

Eventhough I have 4GB ram i feel the Firefox is slow as compared to opera. I like opera because of the its features like duplicate tab, unite,

most importantnly I use proxy server in my college we need to login our username and password before connecting to net. If previously opened tabs are there then for each and every tab the firefox asks username ans password . But opera once you login in one tab it automatically takes it on other tabs.

In firefox it is too bad job to enter 15 times if i have 15 opened tabs. Too bad.:nuts: :rant2:

I am user with a best internet connection(1gbps) and i keep open almost 30 40 tabs at a time.

Thats why I like opera. It rules.

 

[ah-blabla]

If you want speed, then go with lynx... (But FF 3.5 still feels fast on my 756Mb system, even though I'm also running Eclipse which is a real memory hog.)

@gsonline: I know that bug rather well actually: you don't need to type your password in that many times, just close all the password boxes except for one, fill in the last one, press enter, and all the tabs authenticate as necessary. (It isn't actually a bug in FF, it's a bug in Xulrunner, which is being looked at.)

 

[Gouri]

@ah-blabla:
To close all 15 or 20 blinking tabs really tedious job Thats why i don't use the firefox for that I use different connection for that so no need of the username and password to enter.then ok. But on my system it is really slow. After clicking it takes 2 sec then opens But Opera opens immediately

 

[apoorav2]

Opera do supports plugins and widgets but ofcourse not as popular and versatile as the plugins of firefox...
I think popularity also depends on the marketing strategies.. Firefox advantage is it comes as default with Linux like Ubuntu!!!
Now Google is introducing new features into it's social networking site orkut (very popular in India) which works better only in Google Chrome..

 

[lithaerien]

I don't know about others, but I prefer firefox mainly due to it's customizability. I also use this NoScript addon which, please do correct me if I'm wrong, wasn't on Opera. I'm also one of those who prefer to stick with a program that you know and have used for a long time, and since I've mainly used Firefox I've just grown accustomed to it. I do occasionally use other browsers, but for some reason it seems that mozilla is the most compatible one for my use, so I just stuck with Firefox.

 

[spadija]

I believe you can do the same thing in Opera with Tools->Quick Preferences->Edit Site Preferences...->Scripting->Check/Uncheck Enable Javascript. Actually, a lot of addon features to FireFox exist in Opera, but you have to look a little to find them.

I use Opera for a number of reasons, the first of which being that it does everything I want it to without addons. Mouse gestures, email, feeds, synchronized bookmarks, IRC, and "turn any search box anywhere into an address bar search" among other things are built in. Also, the interface is completely customizable. You can literally stick just about anything in the GUI anywhere, and if there isn't a built-in button to do something, you can script your own (though that's a little harder than it needs to be).

Another reason I use it is because not that many people do. Considering Opera's relatively small market share, someone writing a browser exploit stands much more to gain by targeting IE or FireFox than by specifically targeting Opera.

 

[ah-blabla]

I believe you can do the same thing in Opera with Tools->Quick Preferences->Edit Site Preferences...->Scripting->Check/Uncheck Enable Javascript. Actually, a lot of addon features to FireFox exist in Opera, but you have to look a little to find them.

I don't think you understand what NoScript does: it provides a button on the browser status bar, allowing you to quickly disable/enable JavaScript on a page without fighting dialog boxes (as well as allowing selective JavaScript, i.e. disabling adsense and analytics scripts, but allowing the script on a page which is required for login to work etc.), as well as having the option of blocking flash, java, etc, but making it easy and quick to enable if needed (keyboard shortcuts are also available). E.g. for flash I see a blank box with flash icon, if I want to watch it I click on it loading the flash. If I don't want to see it, then my cpu resources aren't wasted.

I use Opera for a number of reasons, the first of which being that it does everything I want it to without addons. Mouse gestures, email, feeds, synchronized bookmarks, IRC, and "turn any search box anywhere into an address bar search" among other things are built in. Also, the interface is completely customizable. You can literally stick just about anything in the GUI anywhere, and if there isn't a built-in button to do something, you can script your own (though that's a little harder than it needs to be).

I don't think it's necessarily good that you don't need plugins for those features: that's more feature bloat than anything else. In FF you have the choice of what to install, meaning you don't have to have features available which you will never want. In FF 3.5 the address bar can also act as a search bar by default, so that's no Opera specific thing.

Another reason I use it is because not that many people do. Considering Opera's relatively small market share, someone writing a browser exploit stands much more to gain by targeting IE or FireFox than by specifically targeting Opera.

I partly see the truth in that, but on the other hand, it is better to have a browser that is safe by design, and not because it isn't targeted. Since FF is Open Source security is likely much higher (more eyes = less bugs etc.) than for other browsers (and since there are more users there's also more work on the security to make sure you don't get exploits). And browser exploits are rare these days: Phishing is much more common, and FF has a built in Phishing Site warning system / blacklist, which is much more likely to be up to date precisely since more people use it.

 

[walidno1]

well, I have found some sites that don't support Opera.......and with my glacier speed net connection (yep, a mere 10 kbps), it takes ages to load pages in opera compared to seconds in firefox

 

[farscapeone]

...it takes ages to load pages in opera compared to seconds in firefox

That's probably because you have those pages cached in FF.

Nobody sad anything about Opera Unite I mentioned earlier. Are FF fans intentionally skipping this subject or I'm missing something? Opera Unite is a part of Opera 10.10 witch is the most current version of this excellent web browser.

 

[ah-blabla]

That's probably because you have those pages cached in FF.

Nobody sad anything about Opera Unite I mentioned earlier. Are FF fans intentionally skipping this subject or I'm missing something? Opera Unite is a part of Opera 10.10 witch is the most current version of this excellent web browser.

I don't see the point really (Wow? music streaming: no point since everyone uses spotify. Pictures: everyone uses FB. Files: hmm,maybe, but email and maybe MSN messenger and the like are standard here... Web hosting: Maybe, but no normal user would want to, and power users would use a real server) And the safety aspect isn't something I like either -- a browser should be a browser, and not add lots of other functions, adding possible security holes in the process. I don't like the idea of sharing local files through my web browser, since a hole in this could potentially allow remote access to all your files etc.

Technologically it might be good, but I doubt it will catch on. All the niches it's trying to reach are just about taken, and opera market share is too low to let it catch on. The main problem is it depends specifically everyone using Opera for effective use -- and that's pretty much a dream. If the unite idea were to spread to all browsers and become a web standard it would catch on, but then it wouldn't be Opera Unite anymore. Standards are what the web is about, Standards are what Unite seems to ignore.

 

[nugames]

My favorite web browser is certainly firefox, however, I use opera primarily. Why? Opera has many more features than firefox and honestly I've never had it crash on me. Ever. Firefox crashes on me rather often.

If firefox had the same features built natively like opera does, without having to go out and hunt down an addon, and have to hunt down a working one once firefox updates, then I'd use it.

Example: Syncing Links (Aka, bookmark syncing.) Firefox does not have something like this natively. Or any sort of syncing tool for that matter. Why? Why the hell not?

Also, the themes in opera are much much more polished and far easier to install. You open up the theme browser thats BUILT INTO opera, and choose a theme and it automatically changes to that theme. No installed, restarting, and checking to see if your theme will work when you update opera. None of that bs.

Until firefox adds more user-friendly features such as that, I wont use it. Personally I have 2 machines I use, office machine and home machine. Syncing the bookmarks, personal bar (Bookmark toolbar) and the speed dial is rather important for me. Firefox has none of these features, or none of them natively. And it would be a huge hassle to try and manually sync them.

Also, you go to a web page and want to log in, on opera, hit CTRL and Enter and you're logged in. Assuming you've saved your password. You cant do that in firefox without some other addon.

Sorry fan boys but firefox is just far too basic. And don't even get me STARTED on chrome, let alone chrome os.

 

[ramsankar]

The last one I used was Opera 8. Dont know why, I loved it at the time. But I am currently more into browsers with Webkit render engine like Safari and Chrome and occasionally firefox. I will be sure to try the new one anyway.