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I use Opera on the desktop and on my mobile devices. So does my wife. I'm not going to stop using it because of a lawsuit, let alone for one that has not had a
by Osiris 14y ago
I use Opera on the desktop and on my mobile devices. So does my wife. I'm not going to stop using it because of a lawsuit, let alone for one that has not had any facts proven in a court.
I really don't understand why people who don't know the facts of cases like this (i.e., you don't have an inside knowledge of the nitty-gritty), jump to conclusions to readily. Aren't we supposed to be a community of rational, thoughtful people that use facts and evidence to backup opinions?
Do you stop using Google products when they get sued by various government agencies for things like collecting WiFi data? Why doesn't Google get the benefit of your doubt but not other companies?
- latj 14y agoThere are many many many many many people who have stopped using Google products for various political and policy reasons. You know this right?
- 3327 14y agoyes I am one of the many, check out owncloud if you want to download your data and setup your own cloud. Its pretty easy to setup. As for search, If you are not anti MSFT bing does a decent job on most topics, if you are, in that case duckduckgo, and many other engines out there are not too shabby either. I really want an alternative to youtube. Tired of being raped with 30 second ads for every vid I watch.
- wpietri 14y agoWhat I know from this and the news articles is that Opera has sued a former employee for $3.4 million because they think he gave secret information to a nonprofit. The guy hasn't worked there full time since 2006, but Opera has decided to seriously fuck up his life. What more do I need to know? Google has a thousand times as many employees, but when's the last time they sued one of them like this? Were I in Opera's shoes, even if the ex-employee had blabbed something important to a competitor, I would say, "fuck that jerk" and keep on trying to make something awesome. Having ideas doesn't make companies great. It's making great things. A lawsuit is a waste of time and money for everybody involved.
- HelloMcFly 14y ago> ...because they think he gave secret information to a nonprofit. That it is a non-profit is hardly meaningful. It's still a competitor, a competitor that seeks surplus revenues. It doesn't make the lawsuit any more or less valid. > What more do I need to know? How about the facts of the case rather than the surface-level circumstances? That's probably a start. I'm not saying Opera is in the right for this, but I think it's a bit premature to start casting heroes and villains in this particular narrative.
- wpietri 14y agoIt doesn't make the lawsuit more or less valid. But that's for courts to decide. It does make Opera more a jerk for pursuing it, which is what I am focusing on here. By your logic, I should really wait for the case to be resolved to have an opinion on it. That, again, is the right take for a judge. But personally, I think companies suing employees is almost always a bad idea, especially when a) it looks like a way of getting back at a competitor, and b) it could have a chilling effect on innovation. So if Opera wants me to not see them as bullies, they are welcome to make a statement about why they're suing. If they do that, my opinion may change, but I'm perfectly comfortable keeping my opinion.
- maddddddddddddd 14y agowhat i know of this is it took 7 years for an employee to develop 1 layer of abstraction in a client-side UI, and then spent another 2 years later contracting where "little got done".
- mixmastamyk 14y agoUnfortunately facebook is filled to the brim with outright false postings and millions of people jumping to conclusions to argue based on them. Only know this because I got into the habit of googling when I see something fishy. Usually takes 30 seconds to find out ~90% of them are flat-out false. Shame there's no downvote button.
- fakeer 14y agoFacts? I've recently developed some (parts) of Android framework for my current employer (which is as of now unique to this OEM phones) and I am seriously looking for a job change for various reasons. Now if my new employer hires me for the same role and I am asked to do the same thing again(and I'll mention this work on my resume and interview), I'll do it. Otherwise, what am I gonna do? Make railway engines for them or rockets or weave yards of fabric? You are right, its not very prudent to make comments on sth sub judice. But, let's not forget what kind of a lawsuit we are talking about here. As far as I can see it's a court case where an former employer(contracted job offer, not permanent) wants the employee in question not to do the job he knows to do. >Do you stop using Google products.... Well, honestly many people do. And if I am not again seeing demons (:P ) many people who moved to FastMail for the biggest reasons - "privacy, pure email as in firm's passion for good email service"[1] - may see sth in it and may not find suh an Opera(which owns FastMail) to be the kind of company they thought was [1]. Again this is a far fetched speculation but at least I'm giving serious thoughts to it :-) (and I do not use Opera).
- dirkgently 14y ago> many people who moved to FastMail for the biggest reasons - "privacy, pure email as in firm's passion for good email service" And I guess all the internet connected services / devices they are using are equally "private and pure" - including their ISPs, their smartphones, their mobile service providers, online retailer they purchase things from.
- kamaal 14y agoSomething like 99% of all large corporation middle management at their very best can do nothing apart from maintaining status quo. Come in, run affairs as usual and leave. This includes pretty much every one even at the (S)VP levels. This is why good folks are always the biggest asset and threat to the company. The idea of these companies, is there must be no one to disturb this status quo. There are instances where companies have acquired start up's just to kill them. Its because they understand given their own inefficiency and inertia they can probably never compete with some one small, good and agile. These sort of acts only prove that the company is bad at getting stuff done- It exposes what looks like frustration with their own selves for being bad, and they sure realize that their competitors are better than them in converting ideas to usable products. They know they had a good guy on on board, they knew he was better than others in their own company. They now think they own him- They expect him to do whatever work they want, at whatever price they wish to pay him- No questions asked. Now how dare this guy go and do whatever he likes, or work where he wants, while they own him and he owes them lifelong service??? That is the attitude.
- coldtea 14y ago>I use Opera on the desktop and on my mobile devices. So does my wife. OK. We just need to find the other 10. Why do people get out of their way to use some marginal browser when there better both proprietary and open source options available? Just to add to the web another slightly incompatible rendering engine? Or do they really like the gimmicky extras that Opera offers that much?
- Jam0864 14y agoOpera Mini has a proxy server it uses to compress data before it reaches your device. This is extremely useful when using mobile data because it's both faster and cheaper. (At least, in Australia, where mobile Internet is both slow and expensive)
- purple_platypus 14y agoThe desktop browser has the same thing (under the term Opera Turbo). Really useful when you're on a bad connection.
- jarek 14y ago> Why do people get out of their way to use some marginal browser when there better both proprietary and open source options available? What is your apparently universal definition of "better," please?
- kamaal 14y agoI've never tried, let alone use Opera. I just keep hearing something like that exists. For now it feels like a 'me too' product which simply exists in the market.
- jarek 14y agoWas this meant to be a response to my question to `coldtea, or a general comment? The exact same words could be used by an IE user describing Chrome, or a Windows user describing OS X. They make no reference to "better." (Not to mention that Opera - the source tree and the product - is older than most of major browsers today, so technically others are the "me too" products...)
- billforsternz 14y agoI think he was making a playful joke at Opera's expense, rather than seriously suggesting a boycott.
- eswangren 14y agoYeah, Opera comes in at a whopping 1.74% browser share. They are a competitor to Mozilla in the same way that the Zune was a competitor to the iPod. Not really a competition.
- lostlogin 14y agoI for one have started shedding the Google products. Im slowly switching to alternatives. I find Google creepy company and don't like being sold. I have 2 products left to drop.
- mayurpipaliya 14y agowhich are those two google products you are still using?
- epmatsw 14y agoIf I had to guess, Maps and GMail. I've been trying to get rid of Google as well, and there aren't really any good alternatives to Maps and changing email addresses is a hassle.
- lostlogin 14y agoGmail is used as a dumping ground - its basically a backup for my @me/@ucloud accounts. I do find it harder to track down old emails, but way easier to send new and receive new ones - the use of symbols and random changes google makes to gmail are irritating. The other is (off all things) blogger. I have a huge collection of years of work related problems and solutions. This will be moved soon. Maps I don't really miss at all - where I am Apples are just as good for my occasional needs.
- madsravn 14y ago"[I] don't like being sold." Are you serious? They are giving you a free and awesome product and you find it annoying that they earn money marketing to you personally? But not annoyed enough to completely stop using their products....
- FN0rdique 14y agoThree things: 1.) Not everybody thinks Google's products are so all-fired awesome across the board. 2.) Plenty of people find it very annoying to constantly be targeted by marketing everywhere they go. If it's free, you're the product - though that's not to say that simply paying for something protects you from abuse. 3.) Having a dig at someone for complaining about something but still using it is silly. Even if a given Google product is the best in its field, that doesn't necessarily make it the perfect solution. Plus, there's the economic argument - if you've got to use Google whatever because you can't afford a paid alternative, you're essentially being made to participate in their marketing by not being able to buy your way out. I'm not saying this is unique to Google, or that this is true across the board, of course, but it's not unreasonable in the slightest to be uncomfortable with the way they do business.
- nollidge 14y ago> Aren't we supposed to be a community of rational, thoughtful people that use facts and evidence to backup opinions? HA! You must be new here.
- ttrreeww 14y agoI have stopped using Opera, in fact, I will now actively discourage it from being used by others.