Why hasn't Opera caught on?

[DKCK]

Any opinion on why Opera hasn't caught on yet?

[chrisjk]

I suspect because most AOL hippies think it's something where you go watch a fat bird singing.

[crptcblade]

I didn't notice anything bad about it (for the bit that I've used it). I like the MDI interface.

[Barney Calhoun]

Coz most n00bs don't even know that it exists and they just use IE which came with their Windows.

Anyways, I also like the MDI interface and the low memory usage.
Btw, I have heard that Opera will get a DOM rendering engine

[mendhak]

Opera's good. I think it's the "I-haven't-heard-of-it" factor.

[punkpie_uk]

The problem is, people always use the browser that came on their ISP cd or with windows so if hey have a browser they dont feel the need to download another one.

I like Opera, more people should use it...

[CiberTHuG]

I love Opera, and use it almost exclusively. But I have found two problems...

1) I suspect that it opens multiple connections to a remote server when it requests a page. I suspect it is doing this to download the HTML and the images simultaneously through the different connections. This is fine, but given the way the firewall is set up at my client's site, I can't get to some sites with Opera. I can't get to VBForums from here, but I can from home.

2) Since it is an MDI app, if I am composing a post or email in one document and I do something in another document that causes the app to crash.... And yes, Opera crashes for me about once a week. It is on really weird things, too. It can crash on a page it has been to a thousand times before. I have now idea.

3) Oh, a third problem... there is a small memory leak. If I leave Opera open, it will slowly eat more and more memory. But if I simply minimze the app, it will release the extra memory. I suspect there is a problem with the built in banner thingie. But I'm such a minimalist that I usually minimize Opera, anyway.

[Mark Sreeves]

I use Opera 98% of the time

It hasn't caught on due to the reasons others have aready mentioned.

One thing which the Opera bods have done wrong (IMHO) is that they allow the user to choose what the browser declares itself to be.

This makes browser sniffing a real pain.

[punkpie_uk]

Yeah, I noticed that too. But userAgent always contains Opera I believe.

navigator.userAgent.indexOf('Opera')

I think it was because when they started the project they beleived all the code that works in the other browsers opera pretends to be will work in Opera.

What really annoys me is that by Default, Opera pretends to be Internet Explorer. Or is only me who found this?

[CiberTHuG]

No, that is annoying, and I quickly switch it. I do all my detection client side, so I am not fooled by Opera, though I do have to send more data to the UA.

But I do like that it is there. That way, when a site says, "You must use IE" I can switch to IE, fool their detection, and see the page.

Something I would like to see in Opera... the ability to add more search engines. I want to start using DMOZ, but because Opera makes it so easy to use Google....

[ubunreal69]

they should have made it free for a while, a fully functional browser, then make the better version that you have to pay for. i am not prepared to pay for it

[sail3005]

I don't know. I have tried to get into opera before, but the problem is that none of the great operas are in english. I just can't stand a fat lady screaming at the top of her lungs some babel that i can't understand.

Seriously though, i think opera is very similar to IE, why switch?

[Mark Sreeves]

Originally posted by sail3005

Seriously though, i think opera is very similar to IE, why switch?

It's a question of using the best tool for the job.
The MDI interface is a real bonus; at the moment I have Opera open with 12 windows. If that was using IE my screen would be a mess.

Being able to control popup windows is another excellent feature.

Opera also claims to be ( and seems to be) faster.

However, the main project I am working on is a web base report publishing system. This requires page-breaks in order to print the reports correctly and only IE5.5 or better offers this functionality.

IE is also a great tool for checking the validity of XML files

[punkpie_uk]

Opera seems to be only faster on a Dial-Up account, doesnt seem to matter if you've got anything faster than a 64k ISDN line.

The MDI windows is probably the best feature of Opera.

[Barney Calhoun]

And don't forget that Opera is more W3C compliant than IE.

[Mark Sreeves]

Originally posted by Barney Calhoun
And don't forget that Opera is more W3C compliant than IE.

Hmm...

That doesn't necessarily make it better.
If standards were always followed to the letter, new technologies would never evolve.

[CiberTHuG]

Yes, they would, Mark. There are standards boards to help evolve the standards. But MS goes to the extreme. They aren't trying to "evolve" JavaScript. They are trying to over extend it to the point that the people forget there is a standard. Then the version of MS's standards becomes the de facto standard. All part of FUD.

Ubunreal, Opera is free. If you pay, you can get the banner-free version.

[Mark Sreeves]

Originally posted by CiberTHuG
Yes, they would, Mark. There are standards boards to help evolve the standards. But MS goes to the extreme. They aren't trying to "evolve" JavaScript. They are trying to over extend it to the point that the people forget there is a standard. Then the version of MS's standards becomes the de facto standard. All part of FUD.

I stand corrected.

[CiberTHuG]

Is that sarcasm?

[ubunreal69]

*** is a DMI interface ?

[Mark Sreeves]

Originally posted by ubunreal69
*** is a DMI interface ?

Never heard of a DMI interface

However, an MDI interface is when new windows open inside the main window - like when you open a new document in Word


CiberTHuG No

[CiberTHuG]

Okay. It is just hard to tell with this medium.

MDI: Multiple Document Interface, as Mark described. I hope I'm not the one who typoed DMI.

[CaptainPinko]

IE just loads instantly so its not worth my bother to wait for Nestacpe 6 or something else to load, plus i can do all my dir mngmt stuff from the same window, i'd use something else but its too damn convienient

[chrisjk]

Originally posted by CaptainPinko
IE just loads instantly so its not worth my bother to wait for Nestacpe 6 or something else to load

That's because IE is practically loaded with Windows, so when you open IE it's half loaded already. A cunning trick which makes IE look 10 times faster

[CaptainPinko]

oh i know that, but that doesn't change the fact that when you want something right now you don't care and eventually the convienience factor takes over, just like having these forums messages forwarded to my MSN account, which uses IE. Moral? No! Convienient? hell yeah!

[sail3005]

Originally posted by chrisjk
That's because IE is practically loaded with Windows, so when you open IE it's half loaded already. A cunning trick which makes IE look 10 times faster

Thats a good point. It really gives MS an unfair advantage, because no other browser could possibly get the same integration that IE does.

[mendhak]

Originally posted by sail3005


Thats a good point. It really gives MS an unfair advantage, because no other browser could possibly get the same integration that IE does.

1) It loads faster. Which is why most people prefer it don't they? It's fast.

2) I think that if NO browser were integrated like IE was, then Opera would be right out there in the lead.

3) At this moment, 9 states agree with that statement.

[sail3005]

when i last used opera it had some serious errors in it's DOM, does it still have this?

[mendhak]

Originally posted by sail3005
when i last used opera it had some serious errors in it's DOM, does it still have this?

I don't think it still exists. I'm assuming you were using an older version? It's pretty good now.

[ubunreal69]

I just downbloaded Opera 6.0 man i love it, definately overthrows IE. the only thing i dont like is that everyone can see eachothers email, maybe some password protection or something would have helped.

[mendhak]

Originally posted by ubunreal69


the only thing i dont like is that everyone can see eachothers email, maybe some password protection or something would have helped.

Can you explain that to me? Or anyone.

[chrisjk]

it has non-windows integrated profile stuff like Netscape but you don't have to fill anything in if you don't want to

[sail3005]

konqurer is great of you are on linux! i just started using it as a webbrowser

[sail3005]

i just installed opera. it's really fast, but VBF looks a little messy

[chrisjk]

VBF's code at fault apparently

[sail3005]

yeah, it doesn't look quite right in any browser other than IE

[ubunreal69]

Any opinion on why Opera hasn't caught on yet?

it has, but only for those who arent stupid enough to say something like "couldnt be bothered" like my friend Adam, I'v been telling everyone to download it since i tried it out

[Aerials]

I'm guessing that not enough ppl know about it. The "literate" community though, does know about it and it'll probably slowly catch on

[rjlohan]

Just a matter of haven't heard about it.
I only found out it existed the other day...

[sail3005]

i have started using it as my primary browser. i just love it's speed