Opera, the browser, not the musical
34 CommentsPublished September 20th, 2007 8:05 PM EDT By Daniel Goldman
These letters are nothing new to me; I get them pretty often. In the past I’ve gotten offers for free Opera tickets, invitations to review Opera books, requests to promote Opera events on Opera Watch, etc.
But this letter is one I received from the Mayor’s office of the city of Seattle, Washington (home of Starbucks).
Hmm… This is what you get when naming a Web browser with the same name as a popular music genre. 
If you enjoyed this post, then make sure you subscribe to my RSS Feed.“Hi Daniel,
I am writing from the Mayor’s Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs and we have a free concert at City Hall that we thought you might be interested in. This is the first time that opera has been performed at City Hall in this way and we’re hoping to have a huge audience. Can you please forward this on to anyone you think might be interested? Also, do you have any other suggestions for getting the word out about this great event. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Below is more info.
Thanks,
Mayor’s Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs
City of Seattle
www.seattle.gov/arts”
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You make a sister site OperaWatchr.com focused on all things Opera (not the browser). You’ve probably got enough contacts over the years to be an instant success!
After that, you could expand the family with OprahWatch.com. You probably have some contacts on that front too, huh?
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haha that’s excellent!
have you replied to the lady, explaining what you do is NOT about music?
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Opera [the browser] is more elegant than a musical opera >.>
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I happen to like both Opera and operas.
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I always thought it was strange that they settled on the name ‘Opera’ for the browser. It always gets me blank stares when I mention it…
I never really thought about what kind of mail the Opera site, and a site named after Opera, would get. It’s rather funny. I guess they didn’t read much of the site before they sent in the e-mail, or they may have started wondering what kind of operas it was that you watched…
I do like the fact that you went ahead and mentioned their event on Opera Watch, even though it’s not the kind of thing that your site is about. Didn’t let them down too greatly.
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Dealing with the inbox is one thing. Rebranding opera is another. I don’t want opera to change its name without good reason. There are some who believe that the simple fact that opera the browser and opera the musical form have the same name causes confusion in the mind of some imaginary browser-seeker who isn’t sure whether s/he wants to surf or to listen to the fat lady. This must be a drag on opera’s market share goes the thinking, I won’t say reasoning.
I say: prove it. Prove it or find some other excuse for changing the name. I suppose you could approach someone on the street and ask: When you think of opera, what comes to mind? But let’s be serious. Google ‘opera’. Google ‘web browsers’. Where’s the confusion in the mind of anyone who has the slightest interest in finding or recognising a web browser called opera? And do we suppose that opera is the right browser for someone — someone with an interest or a need for an alternative browser — who can’t distinguish one from the other?
I don’t say rebranding could not help opera. A better name is always possible. After all, What’s in a name? That which we call a op’ra / By any other name would sell as well — or maybe better — maybe. But for that reason alone? Ay, that’s the question. Who can say that the supposed confusion between opera the browser and opera the musical form is actually the rub? This I find hard to believe. Show me that opera will do better as symphony or concerto or … internet navigator … and I’ll yield. But I won’t be persuaded by unfounded suppositions arising from confusion in the mind of some political flak or anyone else who simply doesn’t know or doesn’t have any need to know that opera the browser exists.
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If the dude read five words from any of your blog posts, it’d be obvious that your site isn’t about music. I think that letter is borderline insulting, though you could use this opportunity to respond and ask the guy if he can spread the word about the Opera web browser at that event, and in return, you will make a post here to spread the word about this concert.
He likely just did a Google search for “Opera”, found the name and contact info on each site, and sent them a letter, regardless of whether they were located in Seattle, Tacoma, Florida, or South Africa.
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Yah, the browser does have a very odd name. Why’d they choose it?
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Ice Ardor, I like you idea. Daniel should have asked for some promotion of the browser in exchange for promotion of the event in Seattle.
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Ice Ardor, yeah. Well, Microsoft is just around the corner from Seattle…
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This is one of the great hurdles for Opera (the program) acceptance is the widespread perception of Opera (the art form) in North American Markets.
For most people, rightly and wrongly, the first image when you say Opera is an overweight woman in a helmet with horns singing in a foreign language in a music style that is old and boring.
Put the tomatoes down, that is not my opinion, it is just the one that I keep hearing whenever I try to introduce people to Opera Web Browser, they seem to have a reaction between ‘meh’ and ‘eeeewwww’. Especially guys, they act like you asked them to use the Barbie Dream Browser- Fashion Show Edition.
Of course their tune changes after they use it for a while. To trick 2 people into this I told them that it was ‘Operator… you know like Explorer.’ and ‘O-Prea…. the last installer was third party and they got the name wrong,,,, who would call it Opera??’. neither of them kept using it after learning I lied to them.
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I think they called it Opera, because an opera is many things – a play, a piece of music, it uses costumes, lighting, there are singers, there’s an orchestra in the pit…
Opera the browser is just as many-faceted.
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Actually, I believe that the name Opera was chosen because of the roots of the word. In Latin, opera means “work” or “labour”. Sadly, I can’t remember where I read this, but appearently, Tetzchner thought that from that point of view, the name was appropriate.
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http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-5855089.html
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Thanks for the link and quote, Smir! That clears it all up.
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I have seen similar e-mails on the Opera mailing list aswell. I.e:
- ØØ -
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The google adsense can not the difference the Opera browser and the musical. On my page were more than once that “Vienna Opera Overview” etc.
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I think where Opera dropped the ball is with their codenames.
Inseted of “Merlin” “Kestrel” and “Peregrine”, they should have gone with “Pavarotti” “Lanza” and “Caruso”.
I suppose that is for the best, though. If Opera did that then the next Firefox would have to be codenamed “Brittney Spears” and the next version of IE would have to be codenamed “William Hung”. (I’m only kidding FF and IE fans)
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Hey, a free concert! That’s much better than the link swap spam I tend to get. Again, people will just run a keyword search, and I’ll get this form letter about how they really loved my website about, say, chocolate (because I mentioned chocolate in one blog post), and they’ve linked to me (provisionally, of course), and could I please link back to their site?
Of course, the software/culture confusion can go the other way, too. I’m a fan of the comic book character, the Flash. One of the message boards I frequent will occasionally get tech support questions about how to do certain things with Flash animation. Somehow these people manage to load the page, see all the pictures of the super-hero, see all the post titles about “Did you read issue XYZ?” see nothing about animation techniques…and not tumble to the fact that the board isn’t about the software.
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There should be a section for this kind of events like the Opera tips.
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I, like AzureWraith, like both types of Opera, but Seattle is a bit of a long way from the UK to volunteer to represent Opera [the browser].
My favorite Opera is called Nixon in China
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nixon_in_China_(opera)
so that often when I talk about Opera [the art form] people think I’m talking about politics.
Life is so confusing, but at least my browser has a great name which suits it perfectly – an art form with many aspects.
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@WolvenSpectre
“Barbie Dream Browser- Fashion Show Edition”
:O God, I’ve been looking for something like this for YEARS! You don’t happen to have a link, by any chance? The googling tells me nothing!!!
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@GrantTLC:
That’s probably because it was a joke. This should get you started. Although your browser experience probably won’t be the same as your current one, it will fit your theme :p [That was a bit harsh].
@Topic:
Today’s search engines lack contextual search. It shouldn’t be that hard to do, but it would be one more question for you to answer when you do search for ambiguous words/names like Opera. It would be well worth as an advanced search though. Wondering if Jimmy Wales search engine will be able to find a solution to this problem.
@Joe:
Maybe the code names are just fine, and the company name too. Maybe just the browser should be renamed to Falcon instead?
I can see the icon/logo in my head already.
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Could have been worse. Imagine if it had been called “pop” browser or something like that.
lol
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Sorry, I feel like I am spamming now, but you have to see this. Isn’t this stepping a bit over the line?
Opera 2 First Period Review: EXCELLENT
[quote]
To participate in such a technological project supported by the European Commission is after all also an opportunity to get to know a new way of work, to successfully harmonize in extensive team work, which after all demands the use of modern forms of electronic communication due to the location specificities…
[/quote]
And then:
Welcome to the Opera Experiment [Note]Haakon Wium Lie used to work here[/Note]
[quote]
OPERA is a massive lead/emulsion target for a long-baseline neutrino oscillation search. The experiment can perform an appearance search for nm-nt oscillation in the parameter region indicated by the atmospheric neutrino anomaly
[/quote]
I guess there is more people out there that like this name than I would have expected.
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[quote]And then: Welcome to the Opera Experiment | Note: Haakon Wium Lie used to work here [quote] Really? Velly intellestink. Hwhen?
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Håkon Wium Lie
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Hey Daniel, people dont only make that mistake about your web browser, Opera. They do the same about my name. But anyhow I really feel bad that you have to waste your precious time reading those emails. And I wish you only good luck.
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Guess they got their wish, huh?
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+1 for Falcon browser!
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+2 for Falcon browser!
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I’m going to create a browser called ‘Free Electronic Rock Concert Tickets’ and see where that gets me.
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Heh Heh…I hope you are counting your lucky stars that your browser is named Opera instead of Oprah! Imagine the weird mail you’d receive if that were the case.
!!!
–Julie
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Stephen:
[quote]
Or you might just relie on Opera giving you that experience :p
Wanna Rock with Opera? :p
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