Comments on: Why Opera isn’t planning on going Open Source

By: chaals

chaals — Fri, 22 Dec 2006 00:26:02 +0000

Minisu, Opera does seriously consider the question of going Open Source, and fairly regularly. But as others have said, it hasn't been clear there is a business model. Extensions: In principle they are lovely. But making them so they don't break with upgrades and maintaining our security record of which we are so proud is pretty difficult to make compatible with extensions a la Firefox. I think we have struck a reasonable balance - almost anyone I meet shows me their extensions and I ust show them how to do that with Opera out of the box (which means the upgrade hassles are removed, too). In a couple of cases there is something that is not available yet - not even via a panel, toolbar, userJS, or the like. All I can say is, watch out for new versions. We do keep working hard, and we are producing new tools, some of which are open source... In my mind, a lot of the UI stuff is already open source. Themes, skins, panels, toolbars, keyboard or mouse files, and more.

By: arielb

arielb — Fri, 08 Dec 2006 02:24:48 +0000

The core of Apple’s MacOSX is open source and that works for them. You can make an OS out of it but it won’t be anything like a mac because the rest is closed. Perhaps what Opera could do is the opposite: open source not the core, because its pretty proud of that, but the front end, the UI, so that it can be more extendable – something lots of people like in Firefox.

By: Joe Pineda

Joe Pineda — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 22:39:51 +0000

It would be great to have an open source/libre software version of Opera 5 or Opera 6. Especially Opera 6 – it was fast, small and reliable. It wouldn’t do any harm (monetarily speaking) to Opera (the company) to release the code for an old version of their product, but would do a great service to the FLOSS comunity.
ID software, for instance, usually releases old versions of their game engines as open source, and yet sales of Quake 3 or Return to Castle Wolfenstein don’t sink down because the source code for Quakes 1 and 2, Heretic and (DOS) Wolfenstein, is now open source!!!

However, the availability of the source has enabled enthusiasts and hackers to port these games to far more platforms than originally intended: I’ve seen Doom, Hexen, Quake 1 and 2, etc. running in BeOS, Syllable, several Linux flavours, all BSDs… and a LOT of hobbist/research operating systems!!!
I’ve also seen improvements to the original games: there is an openGL version of Doom with superb graphics, same goes with Heretic/Hexen, accelerated versions of Quake 1, etc.

By: Dan

Dan — Sun, 12 Nov 2006 18:58:51 +0000

Opera shoulden’t go open source if it causes problems. The only problem I think opera has with not being opensource is the free software religious people (who doesen’t use proprietary software). I am a fan of open source and I know it can produce good software. But if it doesen’t benefite Opera Software, don’t do it. I don’t care if it’s open source or not. But if they found a way to do it and stil keep the cash comming in it would just be another reasone to use it. But I don’t see it happening any time soon since opera software earns monney on the rendering engine and the not-desktop operas.

By: Awaiting_moderation

Awaiting_moderation — Mon, 06 Nov 2006 20:28:19 +0000

If that’s the case, then why doesn’t Opera offer decent API?

Why should they?. It’s a decision Opera made, they don’t want to open the browser to the potential security risks and performance issues that an API generates; I have no idea if they are going to provide it someday but designing a secure API that offers useful features to developers is a very complex task (and sometimes conterproductive).

Besides, keep in mind that they (and I guess most of the users too) prefer to implement the features themselves and smoothly integrate them into the core instead of relying on third party “contributors” (for example, people wanted web development tools in Opera and they are coming in the next release(s): 9.10, 9.20, whatever).

An API does not make your product better, it is just an interface for accessing core functions. Mozilla depends on extensions because they just offer a barebones browser; most of the extensions are lame attempts to provide the built-in features that Opera has, others are just gimmicks, and only a few of them are well designed and actually useful; those that are useful can be implemented by Opera itself much better than a third party developer using the API could, so why provide an API in the first place?.

My guess?, they will only provide an API if what they come up with is very secure and, at the same time, offers the option to implement useful features, quite a hard challenge…

If it were open source, wouldn’t it have supported extensions by now?

Both things are not related at all. Open Source != API

There are a lot of Open Source applications that don’t provide a way to be “extend” other than the source code itself.

Doesn’t FF being open source make it easier to write extensions?

Most people who write extensions don’t know what the source code looks like, they just use the framework provided by Mozilla.

By: goohf

goohf — Sat, 04 Nov 2006 14:01:39 +0000

If Opera went open sauce, the sauce bottle would dry out and there’d be no more taste left. On top of that, it’s possible Firefox would be rummaging through the remains of the sauce bottle and learn how to print properly.

Firefox, to this day, has terribly buggy printing. If the sauce is opened, the fox will try to taste it and steal yet more features from Opera.

That being said, there is *nothing* on this earth like Firefox’s extension system. Too bad everything else is relatively poor.

By: Jadd

Jadd — Fri, 03 Nov 2006 12:37:09 +0000

Which are the benefits of being open source in Mozilla’s case?. It’s by no means technically ahead of Opera, does not innovate (no, the extensions framework has nothing to do with being open source, it’s just an API)

If that’s the case, then why doesn’t Opera offer decent API? If it were open source, wouldn’t it have supported extensions by now? Doesn’t FF being open source make it easier to write extensions?

By: Beatrice

Beatrice — Wed, 01 Nov 2006 07:39:15 +0000

I agree that Opera won’t gain much by open source.
Opera earns by licensing its presto engine to companies like adobe. Opera’s income are partly from the sales of its browsers in mobile phones and game console like Wii. Opera will definitely kill itself if it goes open source.

Mozilla’s success is just a lie, the truth is that Netscape gained nothing from open source.

By: Adrian

Adrian — Wed, 01 Nov 2006 00:03:35 +0000

Definitely keep the source closed. If you want an open-source application for browsing the web, you can use Firefox, Konqueror (on Linux), Safari (on mac), SeaMonkey, or whatever else. It doesn’t need hackers from all over the world contributing to its development, or you’d end up just like Firefox: a bigger browser with far less functionality out-of-the-box. Opera feels coherent, and that would end if it went open-source.

By: Rynar

Rynar — Tue, 31 Oct 2006 22:21:55 +0000

[i]I won’t mention page loading, as Firefox 2 has beaten Opera in that category[/i]

uh?.

By: Scott

Scott — Tue, 31 Oct 2006 21:18:29 +0000

The only real benefit to open sourcing Opera (as far as I can see) would be potential inclusion in Linux distros, which unfortunately probably isn’t a big enough market to do so.

Turn back the clock a couple of years to before the launch of Firefox 1.0, and open sourcing Opera may have been a great idea. With a marketing push, it’s possible that Opera would be in the position Firefox is now.

By: Logan

Logan — Tue, 31 Oct 2006 13:02:49 +0000

I hear that all the time, Opera is great, but it ain’t no open source. I don’t mind as long as the company cares about transparency and security issues as they did in recent years.

By: GT500

GT500 — Mon, 30 Oct 2006 23:27:00 +0000

Nothing Opera can do will ever ben good enough to win over the vast amount of Firefox Junkies out there. These people say they’ll use it when it goes open source, just like they used to say they’d use it if it included an ad blocker, and they’d use it if the interface was minimilized.

The truth is that these people are just trying to rationalize their dislike of Opera. If Opera were to go open source, then these people would just find something else to complain about.

While being closed source isn’t the best of ways to approach the free software community (especially one based on open source software, such as Linux and FreeBSD), it is better for Opera’s future to keep their source closed. They don’t need to show the world all of the fancy tricks their use to render pages (I won’t mention page loading, as Firefox 2 has beaten Opera in that category). Opera is making good money on their rendering engine, and going open source would just spawn open source version of their rendering engine that would be available to Opera Software’s customers as a free alternative. This is not a good idea for a business dependant on it’s product for revinue.

Personally, I don’t think Opera should ever go open source. Being closed source isn’t even on my list of things I’d like to see changed in Opera…

By: minisu

minisu — Mon, 30 Oct 2006 23:09:42 +0000

I like Open Source, I use Open Source and I maintain Open Source software projects. But I’m pretty sure that Opera won’t benefit, as a browser, by going Open Source. Further, I don’t think Opera Software have seriously consider it at all.

By: Steve Barker

Steve Barker — Mon, 30 Oct 2006 20:14:52 +0000

AS an open source fan, I do not feel that everyone has to work according to one ideology. Opera seem like a reasonable company, with a great product so why not support them?