There are plugins to adblock in Opera which will be default in Opera 9 (it’s called content block).

When I view pages in Opera that I’ve previously only viewed using Firefox, I’m amazed at all of the **** going on all over the page.

This was a ******, not a fanboy. You can rearrange tabs in Firefox.

Notice that Firefox beats Opera on Linux, and vice verca on Windows. However, the only differences that are big enough to mention are for Windows cold starts, where apparently Firefox is a real slow-coach.

Funny, the test I looked at had opera on top for EVERY SINGLE one of the categories in Linux AND Windows.

You might want to take another look at that webpage. It looks to prove pretty conclusively that Opera indeed IS the fastest browser on the planet.

Firefox fanboy’s posting here is pathetic!

I suspect there are quite a few of both types of fans (the sensible fan and the fanboy) in both camps. Whichever camp you lie in, you tend to dismiss the nutcases in your own camp as, well, nutcases, and obviously not representative of most of your camp, but the nutcases on the other side are the most noticeable, because they make the most noise.

(I rearrange some tabs)
- “Hey, you can rearrange tabs in Opera…”
- “Can’t you do that in Firefox?”
- “Well, uhm, no, why would I want to do that? I could accidentally switch two tabs, and that would be bad. I think Firefox is right by not allowing tabs to be rearranged, that’s another one of Opera’s flaws.”

WTF??!?! I swear, this was the EXACT conversation we had!

The next day I saw him rave about some weather forecast extension thingie.

- “Hey, look, it says it’s sunny today, and the temperature is currently 22 degrees.”
- “Dude… Stick your head through the window for a couple of seconds.”

1) Marketing, marketing, marketing, and then some astroturfing and marketing.

2) By default, Firefox looks similar to IE.

Most people have started using Fx because other people raved about how cool and great it is. Then, being bombarded with more “it’s cool, it’s great” marketing, they’ve developed the same attitude themselves; they don’t know why exactly Firefox is “the best”, but if everyone else is saying that, they must be right. Firefox now has an incredibly large zealot/fanboy community, which has gone so far to start trashing Opera, Konqueror and Safari - just because they’re not Firefox.

The thing goes so far that we have epiac1216 saying that Opera is slower (which most certainly it is not), that Firefox has more functionality (which it doesn’t), and that Mozilla is upgrading the product and introducing value (such as memory leaks and copying Opera’s features; plus, Firefox has a slooooow release cycle, which will only get slower and no value will be added until Fx 2.0 at least a year from now). He actually believes those things, which makes it even worse.

The situation is not good, especially with W3C changing their drafts *because of* Firefox’ quirky and faulty behaviour (Gmail, anyone?). Yes, Firefox is *that much* overhyped!

I hope the trend doesn’t continue, or we will have Firefox being another Internet Explorer - we’re starting to see it already, people catering to rendering and JavaScript flaws in Firefox/Gecko, but all hell will break loose if that goes on. Will WebForms 2 have a future? I guess not - Mozilla won’t implement it any time soon (if ever).

Extensions? You mean, that stuff which hooks onto each other, causes instabilities, slowness and memory usage bloat, only to break with almost each browser upgrade? I doubt the majority of Firefox users know what extensions are and what purpose they serve.

All that being said, if Opera wants more market share, this is what they need to do:

1) Install in “dummies” mode, similar to Firefox and IE. Expert users should be able to easily switch to the insanely customizable beast Opera is (and Firefox is not).

2) Implement its own *real* extension API (unlike the ugly hack in Firefox and Thunderbird, which can even stop them from working at all).

3) *TRASH* Firefox on all accounts, in the press, on the net, everywhere. “We had this years before Firefox, we already have that years before Firefox, our product is faster, our product is more secure, our product is more customizable…”. Opera can easily substantiate those claims.

But the question is - does Opera really need that? People who know best, use Opera. Those who are gullible enough, use Firefox.

Opera users claim Opera loads faster.

Firefox users claim Firefox loads faster.

This is quite understandable. The programs you use the most tend to start faster after a while.

Here’s what seems to be a fairly objective test of browser startup times and more.

Notice that Firefox beats Opera on Linux, and vice verca on Windows. However, the only differences that are big enough to mention are for Windows cold starts, where apparently Firefox is a real slow-coach.

So, since I know Opera is a great piece of software, which beats Firefox in several aspects, it’s interesting to sit back and think why I’ve never stuck with it from any of the many times I’ve given it a try.

I’m sure there are many reasons, but I think these are the main ones:

1. A slightly quirky feel. This may be because I’m so used to Firefox. But, when I think about it, I’ve had this feeling ever since Opera 5 or so, which was way before Firefox. Opera has improved a lot here though. Maybe a new theme would do it? (You could always keep the current one for nostalgics.) (Oooh, I can feel the flamings coming already.)

2. Extensions. Extensions. Extensions. These wonderful, tiny little things bring endless amounts of joy.

3. Open-source. I don’t care so much for the fact that I can see the code (doesn’t help me one bit). What I like is the open development process. I can see what happens inside. See what improvements are made, day by day. This may be possible for Opera too?

I’m pretty sure reason 3 has definately no relevance for most normal browser users. Point number 2 is probably also of limited relevance. But once you find the extensions you’re hooked, in my experience. Point number 1 may well be important, unless the quirkyness is something I’m alone in feeling.