Guardian: Forget Firefox - I’m going back to Opera for browsing and email
Published July 4th, 2008 10:40 AM EDT By Daniel GoldmanColumnist Andrew Brown, of The Guardian, wrote a nice column yesterday about why he’s switching back to Opera from Firefox 3.
“With the release of Firefox 3, I mounted a private celebration: I went back to using Opera 9.5 as my main browser. This wasn’t just perversity. Firefox without its add-ons is clearly inferior to Opera. Firefox with enough add-ons to make it really useful is very much slower. And Opera has one advantage over all the competition which is enough to outweigh all its other faults to me.”
- Hat tip: Keith Rapado
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using
Smart article. Let’s hope Opera programmers noticed his remarks on M2
using
this isn’t really a flattering article. essentially he’s moving back for email. which has little to do with the browser.
using
I decided to switch to Firefox 3 versus continue using Opera (when 9.5 was released). Why? Because at least Mozilla cares about making their product look good in OS X. I’m not one for looks, but I don’t want to feel like I’m using Windows!
using
Why is Opera Software spending time working on email program for the +browser+ when miss basic important security feature like update system like Microsoft, Firefox and Safari.
Opera Software must fix this and stop making email priority to security for Opera browser?!!
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William, you are sooo right. On Mac, I just have to use Camino, Firefox or Safari. It’s like Opera doesn’t care about anything but Windows. They don’t even try on Mac to be a great desktop citizen. Just look, I mean. Horrible.
Still, on Windows, Opera is great I must confess. Fast and has every feature for every person included.
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jon: He is moving for the mail AND for all the integrated functionality that requires tons of add-ons to reproduce in Firefox.
I think is completely right Opera is working on M2, because one of the great values of Opera is the has-it-all feature. You can use Opera to chat on IRC, comunicate via email, read your feeds, take notes and some extra added by some widgets, while you are browsing, whitout compromise.
M2 is really revolutionary from the beginning, its started doing things that others start to do just one year ago. But what M2 really needs to take of and be a mail client sugested for anyone is to address a critical thing: Permit creation/forward of HTML email. It is no excuse for that now.
I´m using M2 for about 4-5 years and really apreciated the upgrades made in Opera 9.5, thanks!
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Markus, you are sooo wrong. A while ago I had to use an old version of Solaris, running on a SPARC processor. The only browser on that machine was netscape 4.7. Couldn’t manage to get Firefox to run at all, but Opera worked like a charm. That’s proof for me they care about so much more than windows. The mac version might have problems (I never used it), but I’m sure if you ask nicely it will be fixed.
using
Great article, thanks
using
“Why is Opera Software spending time working on browser program for the +email client+ when miss basic important security feature like HTML mail system like Microsoft, Thunderbird and Apple Mail.
Opera Software must fix this and stop making nrowser priority to HTML for Opera email?!!”
using
I prefer opera, too, have for a long time. But that’s not the point. The point is what opera will not or does not do. I live in the linux universe (ubuntu) which complicates my problems with opera, since ubuntu has evidently decided that opera cannot deliver; so it hardwires firefox.
Opera wins on speed and on most other metrics. Personally, I can’t do without the bookmarks, which firefox cannot match, but which opera refuses to develop. I don’t care about m2 because I need a proper mailer and neither opera nor mozilla offers that. But lookee here. Opera supports java by the path, not with a plugin. Flash now works, but didn’t for a long time. Java opnnjdk doesn’t work in opera, not even icedtea. Similarly, flash works sporadically. And google is another perennial problem.
It’s what does _not_ work in opera that prevents me from ditching firefox. And zotero. I agree with the reviewer. Zotero is indispensible for any researcher, although it requires scrapbook. But opera, with it’s primitive notes feature (which it will not develop), puts opera to shame. And that’s a shame.
Opera is very fortunate to have a big foot in the min market. Otherwise, the browser might have died and will continue to suffer for what it does _not_ do. If I had some advice for the opera planners it would be this. Pay no attention to anything but this: What does opera _not_ do. And fix it.
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Say what? “Responsive to customer requests” is not something I would list under Opera ASA’s qualities. The only way this would apply would be if customer only included the people paying Opera and not the community/end users. If that is the case, only the people paying Opera and Opera ASA would be able to answer that question. On that same note, I wonder how much it would cost to get priority bug fixes, feature requests, etc. from Opera.
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@john mclaren
not sure if this works on opera 9.5 but may be useful if you need a scrapbook
http://my.opera.com/Dmitry%20Antonyuk/blog/
using
I actually like the apperance of 9.5 on our Mac, however I did not like its apperance on this machine running PC-BSD, so I’ve changed to a skin I like.
On our Ubuntu machine, I get the feeling that they almost make it difficult to run Opera - not in the repository, and when you do install it, the package manager says it has a popularity rating of one star out of five - a Dutch teletext reader gets thee stars!!! Many other Distros include Opera in their repositories, some with Flash/Java already up and running, thus, making it easy to try, and see if its suits.
using
Well, the reason I’m not using Opera on my desktop (I use Opera mobile which is great) is, among the others, it’s browser/mail client combo. What I want is just plain vanilla browser. Indeed, at the time of cloud computing and ajaxed web-based UIs, who needs storing bulky attachments on his desktop?
Did I mention Firefox is highly customizable?
using
Looking at the Ubuntu package manager, Kazehakase web browser is included in the depository, and gets 3 stars for popularity!
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@funtom - You won’t notice the difference between Opera vanilla and Opera with mail/chat and so on. Too well-programmed for that
Myself am glad there’s someone having the guts to write they’re sticking to Opera in these Firefox fandom days with rabid fanbois all over the internets.
I use both myself, and unless it’s entirely vanilla FF, Opera beats it hands down on speed, and FF is worthless without them
using
I’m surprised about his comments on Opera Email. For me it doesn’t come close to a good Email client like Thunderbird. OK it’s integrated with the browser, but when I tried it, I found the Email facility troublesome and when it was collecting Email, it slowed down the browser, particularly with feeds. At one point, all my stored Emails disappeared and the Email facility sopped working altogether. The latest Opera 9.5 is really superb and agreed, Firefox is well inferior without the add ons; but I still use Firefox as my default browser. Why? Because the skins are more fun and I enjoy downloading new add ons to enhance the browsing experience. Opera however, as far as I can tell, is definitely faster and I did make it my default for a time; but the skins are so boring - I know, I’m fickle.
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It’s funny… One of the reasons that Opera is my default browser is the customization/skins! Of course it’s a matter of personal preference…
Most people use a specific browser because they found it pre-installed in the OS and only for surfing. And most people use Windows. The rest of the market share rappresents exactly other OS and that group of PC users who like to try new things.
And here Opera has only one problem, site compatibility! It seems like an infinite chase and with each new major version new problems arise…
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I have been a committed firefox user for several years, but I have to say I agree with the comments made in this article.
The real strength of firefox is now the plugins that are available.
The problem is though, the less stable the app seems to be come, and the more updates you are harassed with.
Certainly FF is a lot less stable than it used to be, whether FF3 remedies this remains to be seen…. but I am increasingly inclined to switch to a different browser.
using
Sorry, I meant to say “teh problem is, the more plugin’s you use the less stable FF becomes”
using
I agree with this completely, especially that open source does not mean everything, i trust those few people who can handle code more elegantly that everyone having a go at it. When asked about open source, XYplorer’s admin said “Closed source but open mind”. Opera is one of those and I respect that. I am afraid firefox which used to be light and good once is heading the bloat way.
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I really did not like Opera 9.5 when it was released because the expectation was bigger than the product.
Once I suggest a different interface which I recognised partially implemented in the new version but issues with CSS and DOM implementation, as well as the increase of the rendering speed by making it synchronous instead of distributing the work emulating parallel processes really disappoint me.
However, after trying Firefox 3 I agree with the article, Opera is now the best browser, not just for its e-mail, but for be a reliable product. Like a Toyota car, not exceptional but good enough to be better than the competence.
BTW, the most annoying thing I found in Firefox 3 is the lack of support to cross frames communication and distributed XSLT files how Web standards suggest and had been implemented over the years (Even by Firefox 2), something that Opera does pretty good without security holes.
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It’s kinda funny how I started with opera. Back in 1999, I used to have a celeron computer it died on me, and then I was forced to use my trusty old 486 computer. As you can imagine Internet Explorer wouldn’t run properly on it. So I started looking for an alternative browser. Netscape (now called mozilla/firefox) was twice as bloated. So how I ended up installing opera, at that it time came with ads bar. It was amazing, and ads were bit annoyin, but speed made it up for it.
Eventually, I build p3, and first time I did when I install Windows on it was opera, got the full version and I have been using it ever since. Even though now I used Linux + Mini Mac. I have opera install on them.
The only thing I don’t like right now is removal of good old keys — we can switch to old fashion — but it’s very annoying, plus they have removed style shortcut, now have to go into view which kinda sucks cause I use it as text browser time to time.
All in all I am happy with it for now.
using
opera is great. firefox simply uses opera to “inspire” it to embed features that are popularized by opera already. ooopss… no no.. firefox doesn’t copy features from opera, opera is its inspiration.
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The comment directly above this one is one of the main reasons for my return to Opera. Not only does FF become less stable with additional plugins and addons of any kind it also bogs down on startup like nobody’s business. I would like to see Opera get it’s marriage with gmail worked out so problems with IMAP (notably the inability to delete the [Google Mail]/All Mail folder so that duplicate mails are not endlessly received. Otherwise, I can only speak the highest praise for Opera. It’s so, SO damn fast.
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@Roberto: I think FF3 is pretty good from what i have seen so far, certainly its a lot faster and more stable than the previous version. Still waiting for a few essential plugs to be migrated before I make the switch to it though.
That said, this version of Opera is faster still, and it has a much cleaner feel to it. I think, for myself I will be using Opera for general browsing, and FF for the plugins as required.
@Qwen, thats always the way with OS stuff though… the obligitoray “no warantee… use at your own risk…”
For me the real problem moving off FF is the Google browser sync, in which I have hundreds of bookmars… I am sure I could export / import to Opera and use oSync, just not sure I want to just yet
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@techbangla.net
Very funny… but I thought the netscape source code was the “inspiration”
As far as Im concerned both Opera and FF do a good job, both have their strengths… but Opera is nicer, cleaner and more pleasant to use… it also looks cool which is what really matters
As far as I am concerned there is only one “bad apple” in the browser world…. both Opera and FF are great!
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You can sync all your bookmarks without problem in Opera. In my opinion you will be able to organize them even better and the sync within Opera has already served me well.
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Here is the best reason I switched to Opera from Firefox. No surveillance. Despite following all of Mozilla’s instructions on how to prevent Firefox makes unrequested connections from the Firefox Knowledge Base, Firefox is still making outbound calls to Google and Akamai. I do not know what it is sending from my hard drive and I cannot seem to stop it no matter what I do. Firefox contains spyware is my impression and I will not use it again until they stop spying.