10 ms·

Google Service Drops Support for Opera

130 points by telemachos 14y ago

giZm0 14y ago
"They’re not exactly forcing Blogger users who currently run Opera to migrate to Chrome, but they are making Opera untenable, and suggesting Chrome in its placev" I have also had this feeling that Google is trying to monopolize the web. Hopefully this is only a misstep or my paranoia. Chrome is very nice browser, but so is also Opera!
- godDLL 14y ago
  Is it routine for you to have `feelings` about Google, or what it's trying giZm0? We don't usually share feelings on in this forum.
golgo13 14y ago
As a long time Opera user, I like to say that I am proudly part of the 1%!
- ams6110 14y ago
  I don't use opera, but I guess I'm part of the other 1% in that I don't use any google services (outside of basic search).
manojlds 14y ago
As a long time Opera user, I have always seen Google treat Opera badly. When Google+ came, I didn't realise there was the notifications bar until I logged into Chrome. It never came on Opera.
- recoiledsnake 14y ago
  Wow that's a very good point. I heard people talking about the bar but never saw it myself because I always use Opera. Ironically, they hurt themselves a little because G+ needs all the help it can.
Xcelerate 14y ago
This whole "supporting browsers" thing should be gone, and very soon. There are specifications that browser makers should follow, and if they are all supporting those specifications, then they well be well-supported. The only differentiator between page rendering among browsers should really be speed. (I believe Opera is actually one of the browsers that adheres most closely to the specs.)
- ta12121 14y ago
  LOL Opera is the browser that adheres to the specifications most closely, and yet it is the least usable. Why? Because web developers don't test with it. Specs are irrelevant. Testing is relevant, and testing is caused by marketshare.
  - manojlds 14y ago
    It is a chicken and egg case, right? Without support, no increase in market share, and no market share means, no support. Hence it is sad that a big player like Google does this, in an apparent act of getting more people on to Chrome. If Google does no evil, they will support ( we all know they can ) the most standards compliant browser.
    - methodin 14y ago
      Opera was at 4% last time I checked. Has that changed? If not, I find it hard to believe that's the motive.
      - unreal37 14y ago
        It has. Their market share was at 2% at the beginning of this year, and has now fallen to 1.7%. It's falling month after month. There's no reason to expect their market share will increase any time soon.
  - el_presidente 14y ago
    Yeah, Google's reverse image search is unusable with Opera... unless you change the user agent string and tell Google you're using Firefox. Then they whine about how Facebook and Apple are trying to destroy the open web.
cleverjake 14y ago
"they are making Opera untenable" I disagree. Opera's desktop marketshare is making Opera untenable. Even though Google is a major corporation, I doubt they can afford to spend the time fixing issues in a browser that gets lower single digit uses. Its not economically viable. No one will argue that Opera is a better browser than IE8, but IE8's marketshare dictates it should be supported. Google is no more forcing users to use chrome than they are forcing them to use firefox or IE
- azakai 14y ago
  > Even though Google is a major corporation, I doubt they can afford to spend the time fixing issues in a browser that gets lower single digit uses. You're joking, I hope? Of course Google has the resources. It's one of the biggest companies in tech. Not only does Google have the money to do it, but it really looks bad by not supporting Opera and telling people to use Chrome. Just to prevent that bad publicity it would be worth the money to just support Opera. Furthermore, yes, Opera has low market share - a few percent globally. But it has very high market share in a few countries in Europe. Not supporting Opera is basically saying they don't support that country. Again, wouldn't it be worth the very small cost (in Google terms) to just support Opera?
  - mtgx 14y ago
    Didn't Google give up on IE6 for some of their services when it had less than 20% market share? Opera has 1-2% market share. Granted, it should be a lot easier to tweak their code for Opera, but the difference in market share is pretty big, too.
    - manojlds 14y ago
      Even MS wanted IE6 dead. In this case, it is all about Google trying to force a very good browser that has brought in great ideas and features, in addition to the performance and standards compliance, out of the market.
      - azakai 14y ago
Yarnage 14y ago
I love Opera; it's incredibly fast (until the past few years Opera was king of the JavaScript speed) and very standards compliant. I hope this doesn't become a trend.
- jonknee 14y ago
  As long as it's standards compliant, it shouldn't be too bad of an experience.
  - jarek 14y ago
    You can support all the standards you want but it won't help you if the server sends you a gimped page because your user agent string doesn't contain "Webkit."
hugh4life 14y ago
"The reason I felt it important to pass on this news to non-Opera users is that I’m wondering if Google are going to stop at Opera? I get the sense that this could be the thin end of a wedge, and that Opera may not be the only browser which ends up getting the cold shoulder." I doubt Google will give a cold shoulder to browsers with actual market share. I'm glad Opera exists to keep a check on the other browser makers... I'm also glad Opera only has 1% market share so I can ignore it when I make own websites.
- tomjen3 14y ago
  Agreed. I don't get why people like it so much. Something must be wrong with it to only have so few users -- it has been around for more than two years now, I think.
  - mbrubeck 14y ago
    I'm not sure if this is a joke or not. Opera has been around for over fifteen years -- longer than Firefox, Safari, or Chrome. It's been around as long as Internet Explorer. But their main revenue source is mobile, where they have been the #1 browser vendor for a long time. Opera accounts for over 20% of mobile browser page views worldwide. The desktop market is less of a focus for Opera than for other vendors. Even so, while Opera accounts for only about 1% of desktop browser page views in the US, it's about 4% of desktop page views in Europe, and much much higher within certain countries (around 9% in Poland and 20% in Russia, for example). Market share depends highly on geography, and it's much harder for a global company to ignore any of the major browsers. Desktop map: http://gs.statcounter.com/#browser-ww-monthly-201206-201206-map http://gs.statcounter.com/#browser-ww-monthly-201206-201206-... Mobile map: http://gs.statcounter.com/#mobile_browser-ww-monthly-201206-201206-map http://gs.statcounter.com/#mobile_browser-ww-monthly-201206-...
    - tomjen3 14y ago
      I am still technically correct as 15 is more than 2. But that still leaves the question, why hasn't it been picked up?
jfaucett 14y ago
google is frankly starting to enrage me, they are seeming to become more and more a company with only one obvious goal - own the internet. They have made some good products ( the chrome developer tools are great ), but I'm sick of them just blowing over anyone or anything that stands in their seeming quest towards a complete monopoly ( the google books settlement is a good example ). What happen to the good ol days where google at least seemed open and supportive of the internet, its community, and innovation?
- creativityland 14y ago
  Don't be evil eh? ;)
- zevyoura 14y ago
  The Chrome Developer tools are almost entirely based on the open source Webkit Web Inspector.
  - rieter 14y ago
    Which was mostly developed by Google. They are the biggest contributor to open source WebKit these days, eclipsing even Apple.
bulibuta 14y ago
I see a lot of posts here make fun of opera. Just a gentle reminder: they are the ones that invented tabs among other things.
- jfaucett 14y ago
  your comment got me curious. It looks like opera was not the one "that invented tabs" after all. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tab_(GUI) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tab_(GUI)
  - Dylan16807 14y ago
    Browser tabs.
    - iso-8859-1 14y ago
      >in 1994, BookLink Technologies featured tabbed windows in its InternetWorks browser.
      - Dylan16807 14y ago
        Opera at least had MDI then, though I don't know the exact timeline of making that more convenient.
- mpd 14y ago
  and XMLHttpRequest came from IE. Do you see where I'm going here?
- praxulus 14y ago
  "Four years later, in 1994, BookLink Technologies featured tabbed windows in its InternetWorks browser... These were followed by a number of others like IBrowse in 1999, and Opera in 2000"
recoiledsnake 14y ago
When I do web development, I test in Opera at the very end after I have fixed all issues in IE, Firefox, Chrome and Safari and guess what? I never had to make one tweak for Opera. Ever. Opera has almost a religious focus on coding to standards. While I bet there are specific issues with implementation, whatever happened to the concept of coding to the standard and let browsers do their work? Do Blogger features really need HTML5 WebGL 2.0 or something? I can understand some layout issues and willing to excuse them, but to not support them functionality wise is really sad, especially when you're the biggest web property on the internet. This is a throwback to the days of "Best works in IE(TM)". To add insult to injury, I sometimes get messages like "Need a faster browser, Get Chrome" on Gmail.
- TazeTSchnitzel 14y ago
  Hmm. Opera didn't support CSS 3D Transforms last time I checked. Maybe that's changed, but it's disappointing nonetheless.
  - cooldeal 14y ago
    Why would something like the administration pages for Google Blogger need CSS 3D transforms?
    - TazeTSchnitzel 14y ago
      They wouldn't, this is a personal gripe. (although I guess they might use it for transitions?)
      - hdragomir 14y ago
        Nah, just the low market share. And personal gripe.
- luriel 14y ago
  > This is a throwback to the days of "Best works in IE(TM)". Exactly, it seems that a whole new generation of web developers have forgotten history. Is sad that when we thought we had left behind those awful times, and that we had learned the lesson, we have Google kicking us back to the dark ages of the web. If standards are worth anything, all browsers that follow them should be supported equally.
voxx 14y ago
It's been this way for a long time. Opera is such a fantastic browser, it's a shame to see giants like Google turn their backs to it for whatever reason.
jbeammm 14y ago
Google is pushing all other browsers out of their way. How is this not evil?
- Teapot 14y ago
  Opera walks on to a site. And Google says: We dont serve your kind here.
Karunamon 14y ago
>I get the sense that this could be the thin end of a wedge sigh Can Google do nothing without invoking the "evil slippery slope"?
Zenst 14y ago
Worry given of all the browsers Opera has been the most standards compliant. No reason why Google can't support it as by supporting other browsers they supoprt Opera and with that if you change the browser ID then it just works - funny that. I Have noticed that Facebook have been bashing google indirectly and directly and maybe Opera are deemed part of Facebook now for some reason and got dragged into this. I have also noticed the google search landing page having below in effect adverts for there new products https://www.google.co.uk/ https://www.google.co.uk/ gives me the line below with link to buy a chromebook "From zero to online in seconds. Introducing the new Chromebook" - same results nomatter what browser I use. Not sure if Facebook have purchased Opera and google got wind of it and acting all evil or if it is a gross oversight. Either way something smells.
- at-fates-hands 14y ago
  They do have a rather loyal following and I've used it off and on since 2006 (when it was first free with no ads) and still think it has some advantages over other browsers. I also think their Opera Mini for mobile is the best mobile browser out there (it was the #1 mobile browser in 2011). They have decent developer tools and have been early adopters of a lot of the HTML5 and CSS3 specs. I'm pretty sure they were first to make it possible to use HTML5 video and audio. It just bums me out they can't seem to get more market share.
- zevyoura 14y ago
  I'm not sure what you mean by the last sentence, but despite rumors, Facebook has not bought Opera. I highly doubt Google would punish Opera because they might be bought by Facebook.
  - asto 14y ago
    I don't know about google but I "punished" them already when I heard they're looking to sell and the buyer might be facebook. I doubt it's just me. Opera is not open source, they distribute only binaries. If the new buyer stuffs it with rubbish you don't want, there's nothing you can do about it other than switch. Might as well switch to chrome and learn to use chrome's developer tools when I'm not in the middle of something. Of course, I will continue to test anything I make on Opera, it's just been dropped as my primary browser.
rch 14y ago
I didn't use Wave because it didn't work in Opera, and apparently I chose correctly. My assumption is that the Blogger service is faced with cutting costs, and dropping non-mainstream browsers makes sense in that context. So, at the moment I see this as a negative indicator for Blogger, not for Opera. Wake me when Gmail or Voice officially drops support.
chickenlittle 14y ago
Philosophically, I'd like every web page/app/widget/etc to be browser agnostic, and deliver an A-Grade user experience; but this is getting blown out of proportion. 1. Blogger ditching support for Opera, means the population that uses Opera to administer a Blogger blog is affected. Of all Opera users, how many administer a Blogger blog? 2. Browsers are just applications. Doesn't mean you have to do everything in one browser. Administer your Blogger blog in not-Opera; use Opera to consume your favorite web cotent. Easy solution? Download another browser. If it upsets you that much, move your blog to another platform.
pigboy 14y ago
I started using Opera in the days when its free version was supported by adware (I actually purchased a license). It was always a technical innovator, so the question of why it failed to garner market share is a good one. The answer, of course, is that technical superiority is never a prerequisite for commercial success. Marketing trumps engineering every time.
dreamdu5t 14y ago
Opera should turn the tables and add "webkit" to their user agent string. Don't just back down Google because they have clout.
- andyking 14y ago
  Opera has user-agent switching built in. You can just masquerade as Chrome.
filip01 14y ago
Browser war upcoming. Facebook recently added Chrome to their list of unsupported browsers (http://www.zurb.com/article/991/facebooks-unsupported-browsers-whats-goin http://www.zurb.com/article/991/facebooks-unsupported-browse...) and this is obviously a counter-attack from Google. Google seem to be pretty sure that Facebook will in fact buy Opera.
rachelbythebay 14y ago
Opera owns fastmail.fm. fastmail.fm could be seen as competition to Gmail. Related?
- Gustomaximus 14y ago
  I would think Fastmail is fairly insignificant to the Google thinking. My guess is they are most interested in the mobile presence, especially as Opera are moving further into advertising. Also they would probably like to see them generally weakened so a competitor can't use them as a entry point such as Facebook recently attempting to purchase Opera.
velodrome 14y ago
I really want to like opera....it tends to be a memory hog (at least for me) and it tries to do too many things. In any case, if they open sourced the software it might see more adoption. Opera does not take a lot of dev work at all. I do like some of the dev tools (unlike firefox - excluding firebug). I could never get opera to work properly on Google Apps. Lets be honest, it's not like google made an effort to begin with. I just find this kind of odd. It's kinda like when Microsoft thought it was too hard to support Firefox on msn.com. Look how that turned out.
- yareally 14y ago
  I think you are confusing Firefox with Opera: http://news.cnet.com/2100-1032-1008869.html http://news.cnet.com/2100-1032-1008869.html http://people.opera.com/howcome/2003/2/msn/ http://people.opera.com/howcome/2003/2/msn/
nodrama 14y ago
Go Opera! Go! How would one buy a computer in East Europe? You go to some PC shop (the vast majority of them were not in a chain of shops, just one guy selling PCs in one area and that's it). You barely had enough money for the machine so nobody was buying software. Anyway, the shop owner (a technical person) knew that it can't work unless he installs some OS. So Windows was installed for free. They could also install some other software for a small fee (the fee was for the work to install it and not for software), or you could buy CDs with software. When they installed software they would usually install the best there was (because anyway, nobody was paying for it so why not?). That meant best software in the category and the latest version of that software. For browsers that meant Opera. How did you fix the PC? You just get you technical friend to do it or the shop owner that sold you the PC. When these people would see that you still use IE they would (start to cry and) immediately install what they used: Opera. So Opera adoption was driven by technical people installing, repairing PCs. Why it's not so popular elsewhere? Marketing. MS was telling you how to get on the internet in ads. Firefox was fighting a big monster in articles. I don't recall seeing either for Opera at the time.

130 points by telemachos 14y ago

giZm0 14y ago

"They’re not exactly forcing Blogger users who currently run Opera to migrate to Chrome, but they are making Opera untenable, and suggesting Chrome in its placev" I have also had this feeling that Google is trying to monopolize the web. Hopefully this is only a misstep or my paranoia. Chrome is very nice browser, but so is also Opera!

godDLL 14y ago
Is it routine for you to have `feelings` about Google, or what it's trying giZm0? We don't usually share feelings on in this forum.

golgo13 14y ago

As a long time Opera user, I like to say that I am proudly part of the 1%!

ams6110 14y ago
I don't use opera, but I guess I'm part of the other 1% in that I don't use any google services (outside of basic search).

manojlds 14y ago

As a long time Opera user, I have always seen Google treat Opera badly. When Google+ came, I didn't realise there was the notifications bar until I logged into Chrome. It never came on Opera.

recoiledsnake 14y ago
Wow that's a very good point. I heard people talking about the bar but never saw it myself because I always use Opera. Ironically, they hurt themselves a little because G+ needs all the help it can.

Xcelerate 14y ago

This whole "supporting browsers" thing should be gone, and very soon. There are specifications that browser makers should follow, and if they are all supporting those specifications, then they well be well-supported. The only differentiator between page rendering among browsers should really be speed. (I believe Opera is actually one of the browsers that adheres most closely to the specs.)

ta12121 14y ago
LOL Opera is the browser that adheres to the specifications most closely, and yet it is the least usable. Why? Because web developers don't test with it. Specs are irrelevant. Testing is relevant, and testing is caused by marketshare.
- manojlds 14y ago
  It is a chicken and egg case, right? Without support, no increase in market share, and no market share means, no support. Hence it is sad that a big player like Google does this, in an apparent act of getting more people on to Chrome. If Google does no evil, they will support ( we all know they can ) the most standards compliant browser.
  - methodin 14y ago
    Opera was at 4% last time I checked. Has that changed? If not, I find it hard to believe that's the motive.
    - unreal37 14y ago
      It has. Their market share was at 2% at the beginning of this year, and has now fallen to 1.7%. It's falling month after month. There's no reason to expect their market share will increase any time soon.
- el_presidente 14y ago
  Yeah, Google's reverse image search is unusable with Opera... unless you change the user agent string and tell Google you're using Firefox. Then they whine about how Facebook and Apple are trying to destroy the open web.

cleverjake 14y ago

"they are making Opera untenable" I disagree. Opera's desktop marketshare is making Opera untenable. Even though Google is a major corporation, I doubt they can afford to spend the time fixing issues in a browser that gets lower single digit uses. Its not economically viable. No one will argue that Opera is a better browser than IE8, but IE8's marketshare dictates it should be supported. Google is no more forcing users to use chrome than they are forcing them to use firefox or IE

azakai 14y ago
> Even though Google is a major corporation, I doubt they can afford to spend the time fixing issues in a browser that gets lower single digit uses. You're joking, I hope? Of course Google has the resources. It's one of the biggest companies in tech. Not only does Google have the money to do it, but it really looks bad by not supporting Opera and telling people to use Chrome. Just to prevent that bad publicity it would be worth the money to just support Opera. Furthermore, yes, Opera has low market share - a few percent globally. But it has very high market share in a few countries in Europe. Not supporting Opera is basically saying they don't support that country. Again, wouldn't it be worth the very small cost (in Google terms) to just support Opera?
- mtgx 14y ago
  Didn't Google give up on IE6 for some of their services when it had less than 20% market share? Opera has 1-2% market share. Granted, it should be a lot easier to tweak their code for Opera, but the difference in market share is pretty big, too.
  - manojlds 14y ago
    Even MS wanted IE6 dead. In this case, it is all about Google trying to force a very good browser that has brought in great ideas and features, in addition to the performance and standards compliance, out of the market.
    - azakai 14y ago

Yarnage 14y ago

I love Opera; it's incredibly fast (until the past few years Opera was king of the JavaScript speed) and very standards compliant. I hope this doesn't become a trend.

jonknee 14y ago
As long as it's standards compliant, it shouldn't be too bad of an experience.
- jarek 14y ago
  You can support all the standards you want but it won't help you if the server sends you a gimped page because your user agent string doesn't contain "Webkit."

hugh4life 14y ago

"The reason I felt it important to pass on this news to non-Opera users is that I’m wondering if Google are going to stop at Opera? I get the sense that this could be the thin end of a wedge, and that Opera may not be the only browser which ends up getting the cold shoulder." I doubt Google will give a cold shoulder to browsers with actual market share. I'm glad Opera exists to keep a check on the other browser makers... I'm also glad Opera only has 1% market share so I can ignore it when I make own websites.

tomjen3 14y ago
Agreed. I don't get why people like it so much. Something must be wrong with it to only have so few users -- it has been around for more than two years now, I think.
- mbrubeck 14y ago
  I'm not sure if this is a joke or not. Opera has been around for over fifteen years -- longer than Firefox, Safari, or Chrome. It's been around as long as Internet Explorer. But their main revenue source is mobile, where they have been the #1 browser vendor for a long time. Opera accounts for over 20% of mobile browser page views worldwide. The desktop market is less of a focus for Opera than for other vendors. Even so, while Opera accounts for only about 1% of desktop browser page views in the US, it's about 4% of desktop page views in Europe, and much much higher within certain countries (around 9% in Poland and 20% in Russia, for example). Market share depends highly on geography, and it's much harder for a global company to ignore any of the major browsers. Desktop map: http://gs.statcounter.com/#browser-ww-monthly-201206-201206-map http://gs.statcounter.com/#browser-ww-monthly-201206-201206-... Mobile map: http://gs.statcounter.com/#mobile_browser-ww-monthly-201206-201206-map http://gs.statcounter.com/#mobile_browser-ww-monthly-201206-...
  - tomjen3 14y ago
    I am still technically correct as 15 is more than 2. But that still leaves the question, why hasn't it been picked up?

jfaucett 14y ago

google is frankly starting to enrage me, they are seeming to become more and more a company with only one obvious goal - own the internet. They have made some good products ( the chrome developer tools are great ), but I'm sick of them just blowing over anyone or anything that stands in their seeming quest towards a complete monopoly ( the google books settlement is a good example ). What happen to the good ol days where google at least seemed open and supportive of the internet, its community, and innovation?

creativityland 14y ago
Don't be evil eh? ;)
zevyoura 14y ago
The Chrome Developer tools are almost entirely based on the open source Webkit Web Inspector.
- rieter 14y ago
  Which was mostly developed by Google. They are the biggest contributor to open source WebKit these days, eclipsing even Apple.

bulibuta 14y ago

I see a lot of posts here make fun of opera. Just a gentle reminder: they are the ones that invented tabs among other things.

jfaucett 14y ago
your comment got me curious. It looks like opera was not the one "that invented tabs" after all. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tab_(GUI) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tab_(GUI)
- Dylan16807 14y ago
  Browser tabs.
  - iso-8859-1 14y ago
    >in 1994, BookLink Technologies featured tabbed windows in its InternetWorks browser.
    - Dylan16807 14y ago
      Opera at least had MDI then, though I don't know the exact timeline of making that more convenient.
mpd 14y ago
and XMLHttpRequest came from IE. Do you see where I'm going here?
praxulus 14y ago
"Four years later, in 1994, BookLink Technologies featured tabbed windows in its InternetWorks browser... These were followed by a number of others like IBrowse in 1999, and Opera in 2000"

recoiledsnake 14y ago

When I do web development, I test in Opera at the very end after I have fixed all issues in IE, Firefox, Chrome and Safari and guess what? I never had to make one tweak for Opera. Ever. Opera has almost a religious focus on coding to standards. While I bet there are specific issues with implementation, whatever happened to the concept of coding to the standard and let browsers do their work? Do Blogger features really need HTML5 WebGL 2.0 or something? I can understand some layout issues and willing to excuse them, but to not support them functionality wise is really sad, especially when you're the biggest web property on the internet. This is a throwback to the days of "Best works in IE(TM)". To add insult to injury, I sometimes get messages like "Need a faster browser, Get Chrome" on Gmail.

TazeTSchnitzel 14y ago
Hmm. Opera didn't support CSS 3D Transforms last time I checked. Maybe that's changed, but it's disappointing nonetheless.
- cooldeal 14y ago
  Why would something like the administration pages for Google Blogger need CSS 3D transforms?
  - TazeTSchnitzel 14y ago
    They wouldn't, this is a personal gripe. (although I guess they might use it for transitions?)
    - hdragomir 14y ago
      Nah, just the low market share. And personal gripe.
luriel 14y ago
> This is a throwback to the days of "Best works in IE(TM)". Exactly, it seems that a whole new generation of web developers have forgotten history. Is sad that when we thought we had left behind those awful times, and that we had learned the lesson, we have Google kicking us back to the dark ages of the web. If standards are worth anything, all browsers that follow them should be supported equally.

voxx 14y ago

It's been this way for a long time. Opera is such a fantastic browser, it's a shame to see giants like Google turn their backs to it for whatever reason.

jbeammm 14y ago

Google is pushing all other browsers out of their way. How is this not evil?

Teapot 14y ago
Opera walks on to a site. And Google says: We dont serve your kind here.

Karunamon 14y ago

>I get the sense that this could be the thin end of a wedge sigh Can Google do nothing without invoking the "evil slippery slope"?

Zenst 14y ago

Worry given of all the browsers Opera has been the most standards compliant. No reason why Google can't support it as by supporting other browsers they supoprt Opera and with that if you change the browser ID then it just works - funny that. I Have noticed that Facebook have been bashing google indirectly and directly and maybe Opera are deemed part of Facebook now for some reason and got dragged into this. I have also noticed the google search landing page having below in effect adverts for there new products https://www.google.co.uk/ https://www.google.co.uk/ gives me the line below with link to buy a chromebook "From zero to online in seconds. Introducing the new Chromebook" - same results nomatter what browser I use. Not sure if Facebook have purchased Opera and google got wind of it and acting all evil or if it is a gross oversight. Either way something smells.

at-fates-hands 14y ago
They do have a rather loyal following and I've used it off and on since 2006 (when it was first free with no ads) and still think it has some advantages over other browsers. I also think their Opera Mini for mobile is the best mobile browser out there (it was the #1 mobile browser in 2011). They have decent developer tools and have been early adopters of a lot of the HTML5 and CSS3 specs. I'm pretty sure they were first to make it possible to use HTML5 video and audio. It just bums me out they can't seem to get more market share.
zevyoura 14y ago
I'm not sure what you mean by the last sentence, but despite rumors, Facebook has not bought Opera. I highly doubt Google would punish Opera because they might be bought by Facebook.
- asto 14y ago
  I don't know about google but I "punished" them already when I heard they're looking to sell and the buyer might be facebook. I doubt it's just me. Opera is not open source, they distribute only binaries. If the new buyer stuffs it with rubbish you don't want, there's nothing you can do about it other than switch. Might as well switch to chrome and learn to use chrome's developer tools when I'm not in the middle of something. Of course, I will continue to test anything I make on Opera, it's just been dropped as my primary browser.

rch 14y ago

I didn't use Wave because it didn't work in Opera, and apparently I chose correctly. My assumption is that the Blogger service is faced with cutting costs, and dropping non-mainstream browsers makes sense in that context. So, at the moment I see this as a negative indicator for Blogger, not for Opera. Wake me when Gmail or Voice officially drops support.

chickenlittle 14y ago

Philosophically, I'd like every web page/app/widget/etc to be browser agnostic, and deliver an A-Grade user experience; but this is getting blown out of proportion. 1. Blogger ditching support for Opera, means the population that uses Opera to administer a Blogger blog is affected. Of all Opera users, how many administer a Blogger blog? 2. Browsers are just applications. Doesn't mean you have to do everything in one browser. Administer your Blogger blog in not-Opera; use Opera to consume your favorite web cotent. Easy solution? Download another browser. If it upsets you that much, move your blog to another platform.

pigboy 14y ago

I started using Opera in the days when its free version was supported by adware (I actually purchased a license). It was always a technical innovator, so the question of why it failed to garner market share is a good one. The answer, of course, is that technical superiority is never a prerequisite for commercial success. Marketing trumps engineering every time.

dreamdu5t 14y ago

Opera should turn the tables and add "webkit" to their user agent string. Don't just back down Google because they have clout.

andyking 14y ago
Opera has user-agent switching built in. You can just masquerade as Chrome.

filip01 14y ago

Browser war upcoming. Facebook recently added Chrome to their list of unsupported browsers (http://www.zurb.com/article/991/facebooks-unsupported-browsers-whats-goin http://www.zurb.com/article/991/facebooks-unsupported-browse...) and this is obviously a counter-attack from Google. Google seem to be pretty sure that Facebook will in fact buy Opera.

rachelbythebay 14y ago

Opera owns fastmail.fm. fastmail.fm could be seen as competition to Gmail. Related?

Gustomaximus 14y ago
I would think Fastmail is fairly insignificant to the Google thinking. My guess is they are most interested in the mobile presence, especially as Opera are moving further into advertising. Also they would probably like to see them generally weakened so a competitor can't use them as a entry point such as Facebook recently attempting to purchase Opera.

velodrome 14y ago

I really want to like opera....it tends to be a memory hog (at least for me) and it tries to do too many things. In any case, if they open sourced the software it might see more adoption. Opera does not take a lot of dev work at all. I do like some of the dev tools (unlike firefox - excluding firebug). I could never get opera to work properly on Google Apps. Lets be honest, it's not like google made an effort to begin with. I just find this kind of odd. It's kinda like when Microsoft thought it was too hard to support Firefox on msn.com. Look how that turned out.

yareally 14y ago
I think you are confusing Firefox with Opera: http://news.cnet.com/2100-1032-1008869.html http://news.cnet.com/2100-1032-1008869.html http://people.opera.com/howcome/2003/2/msn/ http://people.opera.com/howcome/2003/2/msn/

nodrama 14y ago

Go Opera! Go! How would one buy a computer in East Europe? You go to some PC shop (the vast majority of them were not in a chain of shops, just one guy selling PCs in one area and that's it). You barely had enough money for the machine so nobody was buying software. Anyway, the shop owner (a technical person) knew that it can't work unless he installs some OS. So Windows was installed for free. They could also install some other software for a small fee (the fee was for the work to install it and not for software), or you could buy CDs with software. When they installed software they would usually install the best there was (because anyway, nobody was paying for it so why not?). That meant best software in the category and the latest version of that software. For browsers that meant Opera. How did you fix the PC? You just get you technical friend to do it or the shop owner that sold you the PC. When these people would see that you still use IE they would (start to cry and) immediately install what they used: Opera. So Opera adoption was driven by technical people installing, repairing PCs. Why it's not so popular elsewhere? Marketing. MS was telling you how to get on the internet in ads. Firefox was fighting a big monster in articles. I don't recall seeing either for Opera at the time.