Now that Opera has released 10.51 (at least for the PC), I thought I’d take it for a spin. Bottom line: I’m a fan!
There are three aspects of the Opera browser that delight me.
The first is speed. Opera’s claim to be the world’s fastest browser may be justified based on it’s observable rendering speed, but there’s a second factor that impacts speed: me! Opera’s unusual approach to keyword navigation plus feature like Speed Dialing and Keyword Nicknames just make it fact to use. Yes, I know that other browsers have similar features, but Opera’s approach seems more integrated and really works for me. It does, however, require some adapting on my part, mostly unlearning the way other browsers approach the same problems.
The second factor is their support for multiple computers. Everyone supports synchronizing bookmarks, but Opera does more. Perhaps more important for the future, Opera provides synchronization with cell phones. Cool!
Finally, Opera has a lot of advanced features. I’m not interested in most of them, but I do like Opera Notes, especially since it synchs across multiple systems. You may have different tastes and be more interested in some of their many expanded capabilities.
So I’m a fan. You might not be, but I think it’s definitely worth your time to take a peek and decide for yourself.