Opera

Opera is my favorite web browser and I am glad to see it going to the Nokia 770. I have been using Opera since version 3. I started using it when I read an article in PC Magazine. The title was programs that users love. I was also checking out other web browsers at the time because Internet Explorer would crash my computer requiring a reboot. At the time I didn't have DSL so I was looking for ways to make the internet faster.

At the time Opera was advertising that they were faster and boy was it. It was a speed demon compared to Internet Explorer. I really enjoyed the status bar which actually gave you an idea of wither the computer was too slow or the web site. It was usually the site. I also liked the timer which showed how long I have been waiting for the site to load. All the the pages were internal to the program so if the browser crashed it didn't take down the computer. I pretty much think every browser crashes cause web site are made so poorly its just how much damage they take with them. Another point was Opera was and still is very small. According to Download.com its 3.59 megabytes. That is very small compared to Internet Explorers which is 79 megabytes. Heck even Java is 14 megabytes. So you can download Opera over a dial up connection.

So I was using Opera before the Mozilla project was finished. It didn't have tabbed browsing at first but it did get it. Opera actually had tabbed browsing before Firefox. I sent them an email when I first got Opera and asked if they were going to use the Gecko code to run their browser and their response was nah its too slow. So their emphasis on speed is a wonderful and welcome practice. They are even going to include BitTorrent support in their next version. I use BitTorrent a lot and am glad they are including support for it. I have stuck with it through the years. My brother, girlfriend, and cousin all use Opera cause they saw me doing it and loved it.

Opera is no stranger to mobile devices. With the full version being only 3 megabytes it could easily fit on any portable device. It is being ported to PocketPC right now and on many Nokia cell phones including the N-Gage and the Series 80 phones. Not only is it mobile but it is on multiple operating systems including Macintosh and Linux. One place it is not ported to is Palm devices. I have waited a long time for them to release a Palm version but they have left me high and dry. Opera has been on the Sharp Zaurus devices for a long time so they are familiar with Linux and portable devices.

What do you think of Opera?

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