Since 2008, I've been using Opera as my main web browser. There were a few things I couldn't do on it - a few websites checked which browser you were using and stoutly refused to go any further if you were using Opera. For the main, it had a light memory footprint, was fast, had tabs and speeddials (which was relatively novel in 2008), and was high on standards compliance.
Over the years I've resisted the call to switch browsers. I liked Opera. Many people seemed to switch to Chrome after it came out. I wasn't sure I wanted to trust Google to power my web browser, given they also powered the most popular search engine, and I wasn't too sure I trusted their privacy policy. I had used Firefox, but it still seemed bloated; the last time I tried it used to gobble up RAM like nobody's business. Then there's Internet Explorer. Which is still painful to use.
That has just changed. It's with great sadness that I finally say farewell to Opera.
All browsers have to have an engine - code that powers the process of turning the HTML spat out of a server into something you can see and interact with. In February, Opera announced that the next version of their browser would be powered by Chromium, the open-sourced engine that powers Chrome. At the beginning of July, they announced the release of Opera 15. (The previous version was 12.16. They skipped right over 13 because of triskaidekaphobia. They skipped 14 too because they had just released a Opera 14 for Android devices). Fortunately, they didn't force users of Opera 12 to upgrade the major version, so I could stay on 12.16.
What became clear is that Opera 15 is a totally new browser. Very like Chrome. With lots of the features that distinguished Opera missing. Without even features like Bookmarks (when it was first released). No IRC client. No Bookmarks. No Dragonfly (debugging tool). People would argue that those tools don't belong in the browser. With some of them, you may be right, but they are features I've learnt to use.
What's also become clear is that Opera 12 still has some major niggles to iron out. Every few days, my browser crashes entirely if I try to open Facebook. Those kinds of issues would never be resolved within Opera 12 - they would have needed the next major release. But now development on the old platform has all but ground to a halt. Opera's started to become a memory hog too - regularly using over 1 GB of RAM within a few hours of starting up. Again - that's not going to be fixed.
If I wanted Chrome, I'd have installed Chrome. I wouldn't install a crippled version of it that's carrying an Opera brand. If I wanted Opera, I'd want a product that is still going to be developed and improved, but 12.16 is pretty much the end of the road.
So it's time to give Firefox another try. So far, it's improved a lot. It uses less RAM than it did before, and much less than Opera does now. It is much faster than Opera. And none of the sites that I had to open IE for, because they refused to play with Opera, pose any problem.
So I've moved over. Which is sad. I really liked Opera. In my view, there's now one less player in the global broser space, and sadly the one to drop out is the one I thought was the best.
Things I haven't worked out how to do yet:
(i) The "notes" feature in Opera
(ii) sync bookmarks / speed-dials to a mobile browser - Firefox don't have a Symbian browser, but Opera Mini works well and syncs with my desktop instance.
Comments
Shame about Opera
I have been using Opera since 2000 (3.62 I think) and last night I allowed the update to 12.16 only because opera was grinding my pc to a halt. Now I can't open some pages I used to be able to so I will be giving Firefox another go. I have Chrome but don't like it at all. Sad that what was once the best browser has come to this.
Bad Idea :)
If you think about moving to Firefox.. Check the news to Australis.. Removes Most of the Browser Core customization - same like Opera - and Firefox Devs also expect Users - same as Opera Devs - to use Extentions for replacement for all the lost features.
Firefox goes the same route as Opera. It will be a Chrome Clone, but the difference to Opera Devs is Mozilla Guys will not put in Blink Engine, so you get in fact a Chrome Clone which acts and looks like Chrome, but is even slower and does not support Webkit's Webstandard Compatibility.
Best bet would be to use smaller Browser Projects :)
Waterfox
If you have a 64 bit machine you could also try Waterfox, which is an open source Firefox but optimized for 64 bit machines. After a long struggle with Opera I have finally moved back to Mozilla (Waterfox in this case).
The Opera 12.xx series are horrible, but the last good version, 11.64 was so outdated it gave me all kinds of problems with Gmail, facebook and a couple of forums. Opera 15 & 16 are no option either, as these are nothing but a stripped Google Chrome with none of the options and features that made Opera unique. A crying shame.
Thanks for Waterfox
Thanks, JayKay, for that. Yes, my PC is 64-bit. I may well give it a try.
I, too, got lots of crashes with Facebook, etc., with Opera 11.64.
To save anyone reading this from serving, the link for Waterfox is http://www.waterfoxproject.org
Any updates, please?
I could have written this blog post myself, sadly! I've been using Opera since sometime between 2001 and 2003 and adored it. I never got into Firefox because it was so bloated that it would take forever to load anything, and it insisted on reloading every page if I hit Back or Forward, unlike Opera which simply jumped straight to what it had in its cache, saving me a lot of time. (Firefox had a setting to NOT auto-reload, but it never worked for me.) Neither Firefox nor any of the other browsers were as lightning-fast as Opera, and they didn't have the functionality of Opera. For example, the way Opera does tabs is so perfect, I've flat-out refused other browsers simply because they didn't offer the same kind of tabbing. Moving and grouping tabs just by dragging and dropping them, simply-right-clicking to get the ungrouping option? You'd think that would be standard for all browsers by now, but sadly, it's not. I tend to work in over one to three dozen tabs in each broswer session, so having easy tabbing isn't a convenience for me--it's a necessity.
But, like you, Opera suddenly started grinding to a halt for me in 12.16. Many websites still work normally, but just enough are messing up to make using Opera a chore. Facebook, for one, now runs so slowly that it takes about fifteen seconds to page down once or get the text box to realize I've clicked in it, and the cursor jumps around randomly, causing me to accidentally type a new sentence inside of a previous sentence. This site is giving me the same problems too! You've no idea how long it's taking to post this because I have to keep going back and fix cursor errors and then wait for the text box to realize I've clicked back to the end. I'm going to finish writing this in Notepad and then paste it in. (These issues aren't caused by having a lot of tabs open, by the way. I get these problems even if I only have one tab open.)
Chrome is awful, and Opera 15/16 are even worse because they're trying so hard to BE Chrome. I *need* my full customizability options! I actually have screenshots of how I have all my settings configured, so each time I switch systems or install a new Opera, I can get it working JUST how I like it. The stripped-down, lack-of-options in Opera Chrone-Clonium are as bad as having no browser at all.
So I'm commenting here to ask: any updates on your browser switch? How's Firefox working for you, or did you switch to Waterfox? (I also have a 64-bit system.) And maybe most importantly: how does the tabbing in your new favourite browser compare to pre-15 Opera's, and how impressive is the customizability??
Update
Hi Lindon
So far, I've stayed with Firefox and not tried Waterfox. My initial assessment was that Firefox is a more mature project than Waterfox, so I'm more likely to find support in forums, and relevant extensions, for Firefox than I am for Waterfox. Maybe that was to dismiss Waterfox too superficially, but for now Firefox is working for me.
By way of extensions: I'm using:
Like you from a while back, I've found that going back in a tab forces a reload. I don't know how to disable that.
I'm greatly enjoying the fact that, compared even to Opera 12.x, every Ajax UI (like web-based FTP managers, or webmail programs) I've ever worked with works as it should, whereas there were always a few quirks with Opera. Also there were a few websites that used to say "you are using an unsupported browser" and try to lock me out - now I can do everything in one browser.
Firefox is responding much faster than 12.5x used to. It may not be quite as snappy as the earlier versions of Opera (10.x), but then again they had other bugs that I was glad to see the back of. So, all in all, a few niggles, but no regrets.
Thanks for such a quick and
Thanks for such a quick and informative response! I was trying to get out of installing a bunch of different browsers on my new system, but it looks like I may be back to my four-browser set-up by installing Firefox. I don't use many plug-ins for Opera at all--mainly ones related to optional functionality for specific websites, or taking screenshots for forums I moderate where we have to provide visual proof of people breaking the rules--so I may even look into Waterfox. I'd never heard of Waterfox until this page, so I've definitely learned things here.
Farewell to Opera, too
That's quite right. I've been keeping using Opera 12.16 for as long as I've managed, but little by little it got too outdated, there's every day more and more websites that won't work with Opera, and today I've finally given up. It's been a loyal companion, my best browser ever, but we have to part.
Goes without saying, I tried the new version of Opea when it came out and ditched it immediately. As you say, if I wanted Chrome I'd install Chrome.
I'm not yet sure of my new browser of choice, but there are quite a few chances I'll use Tor, considering how much improved Firefox is and how much more privacy-intrusive has become to browse the web.
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