The first is really the talk of the release. I’ve been asking for this since the first public 9.5 alpha. It’s something I’ve wanted ever since I heard word of the coming Firefox “Places” feature (and in that browser I would still be waiting had I not switched). It’s what’s been branded, “Opera Link.” The point is bookmarks are automatically synced up to a server where they can be accessed from any browser via a website.

The second is something that I have yet to see mentioned. Something that may largely go unnoticed. Yet had I noticed this was not in the “Known Issues,” I likely would not have even bothered installing the update. This is Yahoo! Mail compatibility. So far all of the many Y!Mail features are working. This includes chat/IM, which has never before functioned in Opera. Everything is working quickly and properly, despite only a couple minor layout problems and occasional slowups. I’m surprised this isn’t being played up, especially since this is support for the biggest WebMail provider.

The Opera team really caught me off guard, and I’ll be switching back from IE7Pro (that was short lived). Congratulations Opera team!

Too bad i cannot use diigo the way i can in firefox.