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I'm not sure whether this is a good thing or not. On the optimistic side, it could mean a more resourceful entity with plenty of goodies coming in like more Fil

I'm not sure whether this is a good thing or not. On the optimistic side, it could mean a more resourceful entity with plenty of goodies coming in like more File Hosting space. On the other hand, I've been using the paid Fastmail service for over 4 years now and one thing they did head and shoulders above the bigger players was their service and support. Plus they were always pretty geeky, making sure the expert user had lots of configuration options to tweak every possible thing. Their sieve filtering was perhaps the best out there and the old web interface rocks. What I fear is Opera trying to make FM into a mass consumer product losing the technical edge and going for the more flashy features like online chats rather than putting in better sieve capabilities or something like better Pine/Alpine support. How I wish this doesn't kill FM (I've prepaid for 2 years more). I would hate to make a email service switch since that is my primary communication medium online.

PontusVull 16y ago
I pretty much agree with you. While I can understand their decision to sell to Opera, at the same time, I feel that Opera will probably ruin Fastmail by trying to turn it into just another Hotmail/Yahoo Mail/Gmail competitor. Then again, who knows? Maybe this will end up being awesome.
- famrey 16y ago
  If you read Opera's statements, they are not going to change the service. It's going to keep running as it always has. They are just going to use the technology to build other stuff or something.
endtime 16y ago
I don't know if you've used Opera, but it's by far the geekiest/most customizable browser, IMO. Total remapping of all shortcuts, ability to reconstruct the interface however you like from primitive controls, built in support for content (ad) blocking and mouse gestures, user script (Greasemonkey, sorta) support also built in, etc. I've never used Fastmail, but as you describe it, they couldn't have picked a better browser to sell to.
- dragonquest 16y ago
  I do use Opera as my primary browser since I've gotten used to it from the 5.x timeframe. And I do agree that they could not have chosen a better browser to sell to. However, I'm wondering if it should have been sold at all, specifically to a company that makes browsers. Why not to a hosting company like Rackspace's acquisition of Mailtrust and perhaps more importantly, why sell at all if it was a pretty profitable entity. Now this may be the founder's big exit and I sincerely congratulate them for it, however my concern lies about the consumer (me). I hope it all turns out for the best of everyone involved, but I do have my reservations till I actually see FM operating as well as, if not better, than the FM of old.
  - famrey 16y ago
    The founder hasn't been involved with the service for years. The people who actually ran the service are still running it, and will keep doing that as Opera employees. Also: Opera doesn't just make browsers. Opera also makes all sorts of services for both users and b2b customers. The browser just ties it all together.

PontusVull 16y ago

I pretty much agree with you. While I can understand their decision to sell to Opera, at the same time, I feel that Opera will probably ruin Fastmail by trying to turn it into just another Hotmail/Yahoo Mail/Gmail competitor. Then again, who knows? Maybe this will end up being awesome.

famrey 16y ago
If you read Opera's statements, they are not going to change the service. It's going to keep running as it always has. They are just going to use the technology to build other stuff or something.

endtime 16y ago

I don't know if you've used Opera, but it's by far the geekiest/most customizable browser, IMO. Total remapping of all shortcuts, ability to reconstruct the interface however you like from primitive controls, built in support for content (ad) blocking and mouse gestures, user script (Greasemonkey, sorta) support also built in, etc. I've never used Fastmail, but as you describe it, they couldn't have picked a better browser to sell to.

dragonquest 16y ago
I do use Opera as my primary browser since I've gotten used to it from the 5.x timeframe. And I do agree that they could not have chosen a better browser to sell to. However, I'm wondering if it should have been sold at all, specifically to a company that makes browsers. Why not to a hosting company like Rackspace's acquisition of Mailtrust and perhaps more importantly, why sell at all if it was a pretty profitable entity. Now this may be the founder's big exit and I sincerely congratulate them for it, however my concern lies about the consumer (me). I hope it all turns out for the best of everyone involved, but I do have my reservations till I actually see FM operating as well as, if not better, than the FM of old.
- famrey 16y ago
  The founder hasn't been involved with the service for years. The people who actually ran the service are still running it, and will keep doing that as Opera employees. Also: Opera doesn't just make browsers. Opera also makes all sorts of services for both users and b2b customers. The browser just ties it all together.