Opera browser is dead, but I cay still use the older version of the browser for some time before moving to Firefox or some other browser (Iron, Seamonkey).
I reposted here (simply copy and paste) parts of the blog which has been deleted from my.opera.com by deranged people running Opera Software. Opera management, and even the informaticians making official statements on behalf of the company, have become increasingly nasty while dealing with the deluge of strong criticism of the Opera 15, coming from the shocked Opera users. They started banning users for that (deleting posts has been the norm since the beginning), which is something reminiscent of their new Big Brother partners (Google and apparently NSA). They behave like their new friends.
Moreover, my blog has been deleted together with all forum posts, something that has not been done in case of other people criticizing Opera management for destroying von Tetzchner's legacy, even though they were using "foul language". Why was it done with my comments? I gather the pointed critique was painful...lol... I will repost some of the comments about the Opera 15 disaster.
Opera management seeks enemies. The former "power users" of Opera browser may become dreadful enemies. Not only will they stop promoting the browser, they will actively discourage other people from using the Opera 15 abomination. Not only Opera, since the version 15, has been worse than even the hillbilly browser Google Chrome in terms of looks, the spyware included (Speed Dial, Discover) and the complete lack of usability; the betrayal of the original ideas of protecting user's privacy and giving him full control of the browser makes Opera Software worse than Google.
Problems with mad moderators have been shown here. That's not the main issue, just a sideshow, but it should be clear what that was about (Update 2013, July 07).
Some of the post that have been deleted without a trace (except for the Google cache):
I don't even bother to comment on the specifics of Opera 15. It's just one big LOL ...
I knew that Opera was going down since the versions 11 and 12. But the Opera 15 shocked even me... lol...
It's not just a browser made of cardboard like Google Chrome.. It's just a bum browser or a hillbilly browser.
Opera 15 has NO FEATURES, no options. If it's a beta version, it says a lot. I thought at first: why would you release such a draft of a draft of a browser as a beta version... But it seems that the Opera bozos are going for the simple outlook...
The goal is to be even more rudimentary than the Google browser...
It seems that we have had an end of the world recently. Windows 8 user interface was created by the senile/infantile nerds like Ballmer (looked like a suicide attempt by Microsoft). Then Flickr got destroyed by a yahoo broad who has taken over Yahoo!
Now we know that Opera is dead.
I knew that Opera was going down since the versions 11 and 12. But the Opera 15 shocked even me... lol...
It's not just a browser made of cardboard like Google Chrome.. It's just a bum browser or a hillbilly browser.
Opera 15 has NO FEATURES, no options. If it's a beta version, it says a lot. I thought at first: why would you release such a draft of a draft of a browser as a beta version... But it seems that the Opera bozos are going for the simple outlook...
The goal is to be even more rudimentary than the Google browser... It seems that we have had an end of the world recently. Windows 8 user interface was created by the senile/infantile nerds like Ballmer (looked like a suicide attempt by Microsoft). Then Flickr got destroyed by a yahoo broad who has taken over Yahoo!
Now we know that Opera is dead.
Originally posted by Chirpie:
Shut up and go away....lol... What a funny troll. Who are you working for?
So go away.
Hope you get banned.
As I said, I don't respond to this particular troll, since he may be a cowardly alter ego of one of the bozos I spoke about.
And of course, I give up on Opera completely, so there is no point anyway..
No wonder that "Opera founder Jon von Tetzchner Expresses Disappointment with Current Direction". Read here. They are destroying his work. Barbarians at the gate... He had to retreat.
"Tetzchner co-founded Opera with Geir Ivarsøy in 1995, and was the Chief Operating Officer until he stepped down on January 5, 2010. He continued to be associated with the company as strategic advisor, but parted ways on June 24, 2011. In his departure mail, he wrote, “It has become clear that The Board, Management and I do not share the same values and we do not have the same opinions on how to keep evolving Opera” ."
It's obviously the same huge mistake as Windows 8 has been. But the problem is that Microsoft will survive, since it has a monopoly and is backed by the US empire. Opera will not survive. Majority of its user will leave.
I already stopped promoting it. I don't want to be blamed for this freak of programing. Let's hope Tetzchner will do something on his own.
I already stopped promoting it. I don't want to be blamed for this freak of programing. Let's hope Tetzchner will do something on his own.
So what to do about it? Before switching to Firefox completely (or to something new), stay with the older version of Opera and use Iron Browser as a back up (it's like Chrome, but without the Google spies, and it's not Opera 15 - that's a huge plus). Iron Browser
You can add to the right click menu "Open with Iron" option. Under [Open in menu] add this
Item, "Open in Iron"=Execute program, "C:\Program Files\IronPortable\IronPortable.exe", "%u",,"Addressbar Unencrypted Connection"
Of course use your own path for Iron, i.e. change: "C:\Program Files\IronPortable\IronPortable.exe"
So people learned that Opera is in a process of committing a suicide (with the monstrosity Opera 15) and started abandoning the ship.
I thought that the disturbed nerds running Microsoft made the greatest blunder in the history of informatics. Not only they have made an interface apparently intended for 5-year-olds, but even hidden the shutdown option, so it can't be found without extensive research (probably to discourage people from turning computers off, so NSA can use them at night for patriotic purposes. A journalist that was spied on spoke about odd behavior like the computers just turning themselves on at night and then turning themselves back off again").
But now Opera informaticians (or rather their bosses) made something even better. They released a browser... without the bookmarks.. lol :jester:
Wow... I wouldn't have thought of that... I said before (18 Jan. 2013):
But I didn't predict a browser... without bookmarks. ..lol..
And it looks like they lost their minds or it is a deliberate suicide attempt. I understand adding new ideas like that with Speed Dial (obsolete for people who work fast, but good for simple minded browser users who are very slow at their work), but forcing people to use that new feature by removing the basic functionality of a browser is just mind boggling.
You can add to the right click menu "Open with Iron" option. Under [Open in menu] add this
Item, "Open in Iron"=Execute program, "C:\Program Files\IronPortable\IronPortable.exe", "%u",,"Addressbar Unencrypted Connection"
Of course use your own path for Iron, i.e. change: "C:\Program Files\IronPortable\IronPortable.exe"
So people learned that Opera is in a process of committing a suicide (with the monstrosity Opera 15) and started abandoning the ship.
I thought that the disturbed nerds running Microsoft made the greatest blunder in the history of informatics. Not only they have made an interface apparently intended for 5-year-olds, but even hidden the shutdown option, so it can't be found without extensive research (probably to discourage people from turning computers off, so NSA can use them at night for patriotic purposes. A journalist that was spied on spoke about odd behavior like the computers just turning themselves on at night and then turning themselves back off again").
But now Opera informaticians (or rather their bosses) made something even better. They released a browser... without the bookmarks.. lol :jester:
Wow... I wouldn't have thought of that... I said before (18 Jan. 2013):
Certainly some changes since Opera 11 have been good. But a few ridiculous ideas, seemingly aiming to ape Chrome, are simply mind blowing...
Hiding of the Address Bar dropdown arrow was absurd... I even sarcastically said at the time that in a new version of the browser there will be even more nonsensical ideas with the ultimate goal of leaving no Address Bar whatsoever. Unfortunately I was right... They liquidated icons in the Address Bar dropdown list... Just to make the tool more useful
And the pink color of the skin like like they were aiming for the girls in kindergarten.. Who could have thought of that?
One of the developers almost admitted that the nonsensical change to the Page Down function was driven by his urge to suck up to Facebook and Twitter... (browser.js was not enough for that, it had to be a global change)...
Probably the change in the management of the company is the source of the problem. Someone needs a wakeup call...
But I didn't predict a browser... without bookmarks. ..lol..
And it looks like they lost their minds or it is a deliberate suicide attempt. I understand adding new ideas like that with Speed Dial (obsolete for people who work fast, but good for simple minded browser users who are very slow at their work), but forcing people to use that new feature by removing the basic functionality of a browser is just mind boggling.
Originally posted by olak:
If you want someone to blame for this change, feel free to pick me as I decided that we should do this. Why? (...) For a few minutes I did consider if we should try to be clever but soon decided that it is usually risky trying to do something complex when simple will do just fine. Shortly after a developer checked in a 5 minute fix.
I truly admire our former CEO, but his slogan "Removing options is evil" is plain wrong.
OMG... Is there a wallbanging smiley here?
So the new management of Opera has the easy fixes... If a car door is broken, don't fix it.. Just pull the door out and throw it away... "it is usually risky trying to do something complex when simple will do just fine"...
I don't care too much about scrolling, I can do some workaround with link JavaScript or AutoHotkey script...
But the thinking behind it simply scares me... The Google and Microsoft "thinking" is taking over Opera (aping Chrome for instance)...
I hope the "former CEO" is coming back... Otherwise Opera is doomed...
Originally posted by Bruce Lawson:
Although most users don't use bookmarks,
What? WHAT?
Where did you get it from? I have never seen a person who doesn't use bookmarks. Even the most casual users of the internet use Bookmarks. What else would they use on IE or Chrome?
Even grandpas I know use bookmarks. So the question is: who are Opera chiefs (this Bruce Lawson and his bosses) acquainted with? Simpletons who are total greenhorns on the net? Probably even not with full mental capabilities? If there are people like that around Opera programmers and chiefs, no wonder Opera is going to the dogs.
I though that the webkit would improve Opera in a year or two (now it's completely unusable, no customization whatsoever, so it slows the use intolerably). But with this kind of thinking ("people don't use bookmarks"
), I see that there is no hope for Opera whatsoever.Even Microsoft and Yahoo are going back somewhat after making huge blunders (Win8, Flickr). But not Opera. Opera will head to the edge of the cliff like lemmings.
Originally posted by brucelawson:
I personally do use bookmarks, but I'm not quite so dismissive of the other 50 million users of the browser who choose to use the product differently from me that I would say they're without "full mental capabilities"
I'm not dismissive about a few people who don't use Bookmarks, I'm talking about your view of the internet users (I don't believe in existence of people who don't use bookmarks). So that was a figure of speech.
And I'm not even dismissing them, they can do whatever they want and keep "Slow Dial" and type searches in the address bar. But Opera programmers are dismissing me and vast majority of users who do use bookmarks. It's you who are removing basic functionality of a browser (not one but a lot of them) and try to dismiss users with a pitiful extension. Why don't you remove Opera completely? 98% of web users don't use it at all.
And the most important. I repeat what I wrote elsewhere:
How do you even know that majority of Opera users don't use bookmarks? Are you spying on users? I know you do, but can you explain how do you know whether I use Bookmarks or search in the address bar?
This is something so absurd that i can't comprehend it. Why would most people even use keyboard for browsing, if you can do all with a mouse? Why would you type something, if you can go straight to the well organized bookmarks (You can go to "News" folder, "Sports" folder, etc)?
Even if it was true and 60% of users actually didn't use Bookmarks, so why are you removing them for the other 40%? Why?
Why are you forcing them to use your 'Speed' Dial by removing the basic functionality of a browser?
Originally posted by :
we wanted to spend our time on browser innovation, rather than competing on building a rendering engine
...
Sessions and tab stacking attempted to help, but also confused a lot of users, adding extra UI complexity. So we came up with Stash
And what is that innovation? Removing ALL (!!!) features? Making a browser that looks like it's been made of cardboard? This is a draft of a draft of a browser. That's worse than Chrome.
Making things primitive is innovation?
Who was confused by features he didn't use? Just disable them, that's it. How can you be confused with sessions or tab stacking? Seriously... How can you be confused with sessions? Is this a joke?
Hey, are you confused with "Home page"? I know... it can be tricky, but give it a try... :left:
Originally posted by :
Indeed, rather than browsing through a tree structure in a menu or panel, hunting for the right bookmark, users were relying on the address bar’s auto-complete, Speed Dial entries,
How do you even know that? Are you spying on users? I know you do, but can you explain how do you know whether I use Bookmarks or search in the address bar?
This is something so absurd that i can't comprehend it. Why would most people even use keyboard for browsing, if you can do all with a mouse? Why would you type something, if you can go straight to the well organized bookmarks (You can go to "News" folder, "Sports" folder, etc)?
I never use "Speed" Dial. It's of no use for me. If you do it for others, it's OK. You can make it even more complex and slow for people. But why do you claim you "merged" Bookmarks with Speed Dial? There is no necessity to merge, if you can add. Those, who are simple users, will use "Slow Dial"; just a little more sophisticated people (wow, what low standards for sophistication - using bookmarks) will use bookmarks and Bookmarks Bar (or a folder on a toolbar like I do). Why do you have to destroy the choice?
Originally posted by :
That gave us the idea to move bookmarks right into the browser window where all the browsing happens
You didn't move Bookmarks. You removed them!! How come you don't know that? You even made a pitiful extension for people who wanted Bookmarks back. So... What is it? You don't know that?
Why did you remove the Address Bar drop down list? That was the original "Stash", for God's sake. A temporary (unlike Bookmarks) list of recently typed or pasted addresses.
So what? Nobody's using Opera 15? ...lol... And nobody will..
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I wonder if people like this "nanana1" are paid spokesmen/naggers for Opera? Who else would spend their whole days to fight against the 90% of users on behalf of Opera management?
I prefer this kind of spammers to be more reserved with their chirping (how many posts of this one person here?) and stop attacking particular users. It's hard to find the relevant responses, because of you. You have the right to say "I love this","testing, testing" or whatever. But stop trolling the users who voice their opinion. How come some people were censored here, but the sycophants are cherished?
I don't want to leave the false impression that the lack of bookmarks is the only or main problem here. No, it's simply symptomatic. Opera 15 is so bad, that it doesn't even have bookmarks or homepage (homepage wouldn't be profitable). Opera 15 doesn't have anything. Even the basic functions are absent (like "open link in new page" with a mouse gesture - one of the most important things that brought me to Opera 6). I don't even mention UserJS, User CSS or toolbar customization (or F12). Lack of one of those things is enough to forget about Opium.
It's even so bad, that websites can hijack context menu. Just right click a link and a fullscreen popup window comes up. That's the experience of Opera 15. A pitiful joke...
You based your whole policy on this unscientific survey? You don't realize that only a specific kind of people allows others to "anonymously collect information" about their ways of using the internet? So your survey is of no value at all. And you made a huge blunder. It looks now that even "power users" use bookmarks (those people who are not "confused" with sessions or tab stacking).
I didn't agree to this "survey". I don't even respond to the most stupid comments people make: like "what do you need tabs (MDI) or sidebar for? :doh:", "What's bookmarks? What is that thing? :yikes:". You seriously should not listen to the remarks of, to put it mildly, unsophisticated users (or former employees), just because smarter people don't waste their time to respond to them.
Address Bar drop-down list was the original "Stash". A temporary (unlike Bookmarks) list of recently typed or pasted addresses. You are trying to reinvent the wheel. At one time you started killing Address Bar drop-down list, but later realized: "Something's missing... we need something like... 'Stash'!". It looks like you've been chasing your tail.
It's good you have already realized that you cannot attract new users to a browser which doesn't even have bookmarks (not to mention you would lose the old ones). But it wasn't too hard to predict. That's why it's so shocking, that someone would even come up with this idea.
You just got rid of a scarecrow that scared new and old users from Opera. But that's not enough. The most important thing is customization and giving full control of a browser to the user, so his browser is not hijacked by evil websites (control of the Javascript + "F12",etc).
I defenetely aggre whit you that last versions of opera is totaly crap and nothing elese than a Chrome copy, and i am very diapointed about that.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately that is not Opera anymore :(
It's a vaste of time. I am using Opera since 1993 but now, abandoned 12.16 that, day after day is less compatile, and 15 a disaster, I am moving to original Chrome: why should I use a bad copy of it???
ReplyDeleteAfter all these years, I have never found a browser as complete as Opera 12.18. Except maybe Opera 10.10.
ReplyDeleteI have other browsers that I use when Opera doesn't work but, jesus, I've never found a browser that was so user-moldable. For the interface or the browser behaviour, you can do absolutely anything. Much more than Firefox with a 100 extensions.
Opera dir has really messed up. And unfortunately, Vivaldi browser is not so good either.
Thanks for your blog.