Comments on: Wildfires in San Diego hit close to home for some at Opera

By: Kelson

Kelson — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 06:50:32 +0000

Lawrence, glad to hear it!

By: GT500

GT500 — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 02:16:13 +0000

For those who are curious, Google has a map that shows the locations of the fires.

By: XP1

XP1 — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 21:09:41 +0000

Windows Internet Explorer (formerly Microsoft Internet Explorer) is only the enabler.

By: Nico

Nico — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 20:36:51 +0000

I’d say it’s the webdesigners fault, because they code their pages for just one single browser (unfortunutely the worst browser out of all) and don’t care about the rest.

By: netster007x

netster007x — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 18:24:41 +0000

It probably is largely IE’s fault that sites don’t work well with Opera. To the user, though, that doesn’t matter. What matters is that Opera and many websites don’t work well.

I know 9.5a is a testing version, it’s just I’ve heard many claim it enhances compatibility w/ many websites. In my experience it doesn’t.

By: Rhonnysparks

Rhonnysparks — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 09:01:41 +0000

He means that (most) sites are written explicitly for IE7, which has poor adherence to standards unlike Opera and hence why Opera seems to have poor compatibility. Opera 9.5 is focusing on site compatibility as well as other things but it’s currently an ALPHA version which means that it’s meant for testing purposes only, 9.24 is the latest stable version.

By: Jezetha

Jezetha — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 08:59:10 +0000

Thanks, Lawrence, for your reports. I’m glad things are not so bad (for you and Opera) as I feared.

Enjoy yourself at the launch party!

By: netster007x

netster007x — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 07:19:19 +0000

Yes, sites do have great IE7 compatibility. That’s why I switched for now at least.

Did you mean Opera compatibility?

By: muph

muph — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 07:06:13 +0000

Correction, netster007x: Sites have great IE7 compatibility.

By: Lawrence Eng

Lawrence Eng — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 03:23:52 +0000

One added note: our office is safe too. It’s pretty far from the affected areas.

By: Lawrence Eng

Lawrence Eng — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 03:19:17 +0000

Thanks, everyone.

I’m pleased to report that I’m writing this from my home in San Diego. A few of the areas that were evacuated earlier have now been reopened, so I’m very glad to be back in my own living room, especially knowing about the thousands of people in San Diego who have lost their homes, along with thousands more who are still in evacuation shelters. Many people in San Diego don’t even know if their homes are okay.

The situation in San Diego (and other parts of California) is still very serious, but the community is sticking together, and we appreciate the support and concern shown by the rest of the nation. Some fires are being controlled, more resources are coming in, and the weather is starting to be more helpful, so there’s hope on the horizon.

I’m crossing my fingers and hoping for the best. I really want to go up to SF this week to celebrate at our launch party!

PS: the other Opera employees in San Diego live closer to the coast, so they’re okay.

By: Jezetha

Jezetha — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 23:09:51 +0000

I listened to the BBC World Service earlier this evening (from the Netherlands), and when I heard about San Diego I immediately thought of the folks at the new Opera office. What a nerve-racking situation this must be.

By: netster007x

netster007x — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 22:44:58 +0000

Good luck Lawrence. I live in San Diego, but fortunately I haven’t had to evacuate, and probably won’t have to. The air’s smoky and no good, though.

Also, you’ll notice I’m writing this in IE7. Sorry, but Opera’s poor site compatibility (especially when it comes to Yahoo! Mail), which hasn’t improved in my experience w/ 9.5a1, drove me away. IE7 has great site compatibility, and w/ the IE7Pro add-on, has the excellent features (which I admit are mostly copies of your innovations) I want.

By: Kelson

Kelson — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 22:25:33 +0000

Stay safe, Lawrence. And here’s hoping your home is still there when this is all over.

I’m writing this about 6 miles from the Santiago Fire in Orange County. Fortunately it’s a lot smaller than what San Diego is dealing with, but we’ve had lots of smoke, and I’ve got some co-workers who live in areas that have been evacuated. Every once in a while several of us will go over to the conference room at the corner of the building and look out at the smoke rising from blackened hills. I’ve been posting blogging the fire from a distance (sometimes less of a distance than I’d like) since spotting the smoke plume on Sunday afternoon.