Browser Wars: Round 3: Opera

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Browser Wars: Round 3: Opera

Aalaap Ghag, Oct 09, 2005 1010 hrs IST

The Story of a faction called Opera in the crossfire of the war between IE and Netscape

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In the crossfire between Internet Explorer and Netscape/Mozilla/Firefox, several smaller factions were lured by the bigger ones and so they fought on their side. Most of them sided with Internet Explorer, simply because it was so easy to align and integrate with it. Avant Browser and Maxthon are prime examples. They just use the Internet Explorer engine to do the basic work of browsing, and offer lots of additional features like tabbed browsing, pop-up blocking and browser sessions (opening last browsed pages at next startup). But these guys weren't the first ones to introduce those features...

The Story So Far

Just like the ancestors of IE and Netscape, work on Opera started off as a research project in Norway, way back in 1994. There were barely any public releases, but the browser, then called Multitorg Opera, offered MDI - multi-document interface - the precursor to tabbed browsing. And this is 1994, there's no pop-ups, there's no JavaScript, there's barely an Internet!

The rest of the world first got a glimpse of Opera in version 2 in 1996-97. The browser had evolved to support frames, which was fast becoming a norm in those days. Remember those prolific "Your browser doesn't support frames!" messages? The browser wasn't he most stable release at this time, and this continued for a few versions after that as well. Version 3 and its point releases added various standard features like JavaScript, SSL, Java and CSS1 between 1997 and 1999. The CSS1 implementation in Opera 3.6 was touted as the most complete in its time. Version 4, in 2000, offered full HTML 4.0 and CSS2 support, and also XML, and WAP WML support - a first for a desktop web browser. Version 4 was based on a new engine that also made possible the ports to different platforms, other than Windows.

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Related Links

First Look at Opera Mini 4.2

Opera Goes Free with Version 8.5

Browsing through Time

Tag keywords

opera ie netscape mozilla firefox thunderbird review Internet and Networking Software

Discussion Board

Nitin Taneja

,Gurgaon, on Oct 10, 2005 10:52 AM

Opera is much better than IE and Firefox. Opera's UI and performance are way ahead of IE.

VIKRAM SINGH

,GREATER NOIDA, on Mar 21, 2006 10:18 PM

I WANT TO INSTALL FEW KIOSK FOR EMPLOYEES TO ACESS INTERANET. KINDLY HELP ME ABOUT THE SUPPLIER & DESIGNS OF KIOSKS

internetclub

,clubs, on Oct 21, 2005 12:54 AM

Avant browser is also a gr8 browser.........I guess it may even be the best of them all!!!!

Anand

,Mumbai, on Oct 11, 2005 02:23 AM

I've been using opera for more than 3 years now and its an absolute delight in terms of features and customisation (mouse getsures-cant live without them). The only thing that makes me use firefox instead is the adblock extension. Is there something as powerful and easy for opera? Pl let me know so that i can opera my primary brwser again

ROHIT

,PATNA, on Oct 12, 2005 10:23 AM

OPERA LATEST VERSION 8.5 COMES WITH NO ADVERTISEMENTS OR BANNERS.SO GO AHEAD GET DELIGHTED.

Ravin

,mumbai, on Oct 10, 2005 11:48 PM

hey I am using Opera7. It's nice but lacks some essential features like file uploading is total mess and even gmail dosen't work well with it. I am giving 5 out of 10 any comment??

Sandeep

,Bangalore, on Oct 11, 2005 10:06 PM

Use the latest opera. It supports gmail with all the features.

Muzammil

,Ajman, on Oct 11, 2005 06:38 PM

The only thing Opera lacks is Yahoo! launchCast video support. Yahoo! you guys have great services, but shut Opera users out!

Freako

,Bangalore, on Oct 11, 2005 06:22 PM

Opera ROCKS!! Plain and simple.

vvr1959

,TAMIL NADU INDIA, on Oct 10, 2005 11:24 PM

opera is good, fast. Everybody must use

RAKESH GUPTA

,mumbai, on Oct 10, 2005 11:19 PM

i am using opera & it better,faster & bug free than IE6 & even mozilla

rohith

,hyderabad, on Oct 10, 2005 11:16 PM

opera will be the top position in the browsers in coming days

Ravi

,Bangalore, on Oct 10, 2005 07:48 AM

You didn't do enough research, so just dished out a half article. disappointing. bad work

utkarsh kulshre

,ree, on Oct 10, 2005 05:35 PM

tttttttt

Goutam

,Kolkata, on Oct 10, 2005 02:58 PM

You mean the Bittorrent P2P download support isn't there in the current Opera 8.5 release ? It would have been good if they have kept that feature !

Karim Fatehi

,Mumbai, on Oct 10, 2005 02:47 PM

Nice story. I had done away with IE long time back when netscape 4 was released. However when netscape 7 became a resource hog, i switched to firefox which was a very good browser and very safe. recently since opera went free i've been using opera. i give opera a 5/5 stars. its safe, well equipped and blazing fast. try it and u'll like it.

Sriram

,Chennai, on Oct 10, 2005 02:34 PM

Really a Nice One. And this Opera web browser impressed me a lot 4 years ago itself and since then I've been using this Opera where I go.

Amit

,Mumbai, on Oct 10, 2005 10:51 AM

This is not proper justification for opera. I stuck to Mozilla Firefox(Best!!!.Just some problem during first loading)As It strictly follow W3 Statndard.

Sujit Patwardha

,Pune, on Oct 10, 2005 09:58 AM

This is hardly a competent review. If you want our responses do more homework and write better reviews. Of course Opera has always been an excellent browser, but I've stuck to Mozilla, after migrating from Netscape (poor response to customer complaints) via IE (the default that was a pain in the xxxx). So give us a complete review on Opera. The little browser deserves it.

The lackey

,Delhi, on Oct 09, 2005 11:06 PM

So where can i buy this Opera?

Durty

,dawg, on Oct 10, 2005 07:12 AM

doode.... I think ya lost your noodle...this thingy is free....just download it and enjoy. Opera is a very good browser if you have worked with IE and dont like to put up with its quirks.

Theruler

,Blore, on Oct 09, 2005 10:49 PM

Opera is simply the best. Firefox really hogs on the memory,and lacks on features. And of course, no comments on IE !!!

David Hammond

,Chico, CA, on Oct 09, 2005 08:04 PM

This chapter and the last one claim that there are web browsers with full HTML 4.0 and CSS 2 support. This is simply untrue. Firefox and Opera pass Internet Explorer by miles in standards support, but no web browser has full support for HTML 4, CSS 2, or any current DOM Level 2 or 3 specification. This is because of the size and complexity of the standards. New releases of Firefox and Opera make significant progress, but no browser is yet at 100%. Take a look at these standards support tables: http://nanobox.chipx86.com/browser_support.php

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