Earth to Opera... The Browser War is Over (and you lost) - Comments Page 2

Bob, why are you encouraging a monoculture? With only one browser Chrome what incentive would there be to improve Chrome? I use Edge, Chrome, Vivaldi, & Firefox changing every two weeks and enjoy them all.

All I can say is. . .Pass the marshmallows, please!

I predominately use Chrome. As one other said, it really is basically easy to use. Plus, I am quite use to using it.

I do use Brave now and then. Yes, it does use Chrome for some of its codes but I do believe it is a safer browser. Of course, nothing is totally safe, anymore these days. But, there is a sense of "privacy" with Brave, similar to Duck, Duck Go search engine.

Duck, Duck Go is what I prefer to use these days, thanks to you Bob. I first read about Duck, Duck Go from one of your newsletters/blogs. It took me a bit, to get use to it, but now I would not use anything else.

Brave is similar to Chrome but completely different. It is hard to explain, but I am trying to get use to it. I do like the "privacy" part of Brave. No, Brave is not a VPN but they are not prone to telling everyone about what you do, when you are using Brave. It is the same with Duck, Duck Go, which isn't a VPN, either.

It seems to be fast enough. Besides, fast is due to the broadband that you are using. . .Not the browser. Speed also depends on whether or not the "trunks" are busy. I just wish that more Internet users really understand what is truly going on with their broadband speeds. I wonder if some even realize that IF they go over the quota for the month, the speed is drastically reduced. Hey, there are lots of users who don't know that, they honestly don't read the "fine print" or truly listen to what is being told them. However, that really is being so human. }:O)

I think someone is doing incorrect estimates to arrive at a universe of Chrome users at over 60%. Just as these notes imply, I suggest that Firefox is installed and used on more than 6% of computers.
Wouldn't it be a shame at some point in the future we were to proclaim Chrome the dominant browser and then it fails and leaves its users without access to the Internet because no other browser was supported?
I, for one, use three browsers and use each for its strengths when appropriate.

I guess I'm one of those losers who use, and like Opera. Never mind the fact I can sync my bookmarks across multiple machines, I like the privacy. Google and privacy? Ha, you've got to be kidding.

Where I go is nobody's business but mine. You can do what you want with Google's privacy settings but Google will do what it wants. Although Opera may be based on Chrome it does not behave like Chrome. And not only is it already more private than Google it even has a VPN built in for more privacy.

For those with the herd mentality who just want to blindly follow everybody else because everybody else is doing it, and let Google spy and record everything you do, go right ahead. I'll stay in my own little piece of the internet on a browser that works the way it's supposed to work, with no pop-ups, no ads, and no spying. I'm sure if the folks at Opera had billions of dollars to hype their browser it would also be used by more people. In the meantime I'll enjoy my privacy.

For some reason, Vivaldi seems to escape much notice. I consider it to be the best of all the browsers and is actively being enhanced.

I have dial-up, and have used IE, Chrome and Firefox. Chrome, is a resource hog, Firefox 56 was better, until 57/58 came out and really slowed down my browsing. IE is faster for me now. I might try Opera, or just stick with IE on Windows 7.

Whatever Firefox did to IMPROVE itself really failed for me. I miss Firefox 56.

The issue is simple for me.

Chrome has never worked on two of my credit-card sites, which keeps me from using it.

Opera has a VPN client included, as does Epic Privacy Browser, but Chrome does not. That makes the choice obvious, for me, anyway.

I have Firefox and Chrome installed on my Ubuntu machine and my Android. Firefox is my primary as FF respects privacy where Chrome you are always fighting to keep privacy. I do use Chrome for Chromecast and on occasion with sites that don'e do well with FireFox.

Wait, didn't the Chinese buy the company that made Opera? The original programmers for Opera left and wrote their OWN Chromium-based browser called Vivaldi.

I've been using Vivaldi for a couple of years now, and I'm quite happy with it. I've found that for some tasks, Chrome itself is better - but on my i7 with 32GB of RAM, Chrome sometimes displays a "Shucks! Out of Memory!" error, which seems laughable.

I use & really like Firefox & I have to say after the last update every thing was so slow so I did some research online & found the "Options" tab under the menu....I went there to check everything out & under "privacy & security" found "Cached web content" cleared that out & it now runs perfectly.I go there often & clean it out & I am an old lady that has no techy knowledge at all.

How many web browsers can you name? If Vivaldi isn't on the list, then maybe it's time to investigate it. This is a web browser with some interesting features that might just be enough to draw you away from your current favourite.

http://www.zdnet.com/product/vivaldi/?loc=newsletter_featured_related_listing&ftag=TRE-03-10aaa6b&bhid=27508308177679411538964953697876

I have stuck with Opera 12.17, the last version before they went to the Chromium engine, and like it a lot. It's still available on the Opera website.

Hi Bob:

I must say that you are being very unfair to Opera, Firefox and all less popular browsers - by implying that popularity is the most important indicator of the quality and security of a browser - or of any other product or service.

I am now using Opera for my banking and financial online activities because it offers an optional, free VPN that can be activated with a "single click". I'm both surprised and disappointed that you failed to mention this most useful feature of a very fine performing product.

Finally, I think it very unwise to promote a browser mono-culture by Google - a company that has excessively dominated the internet with questionable privacy practices. I simply do not trust the internet to Google - that is why I always use DuckDuckGo for my searches.

Finally, I think you will agree that competition and diversity of choices is the best path to technological progress. Many of the current "big guys" started out as "little guys", so the latter should be encouraged and appreciated to keep the wheels of progress moving ahead!

Hi Bob
I use Opera on my desktop. My primary browser is Firefox, not perfect but not Google neither - I have a horror of Google gathering data about me and snooping into my computer.
I use Opera solely for Facebook. Why? Because I was fed up with Facebook (AKA Google) snooping into my browser to serve up adverts "targeted" at my interests. Sinister or what? So Facebook has nothing to find in Opera's history, which I regularly clear out.
An even more cynical practise from Facebook is the untargeted adverts that pop up, for which Facebook is being paid. Snake-oil adverts for fraudulent products, some aimed at athritis sufferers which are simply quack medicine. Shame on Facebook. Begone Google.

After many tries, I have yet to understand Bookmarks in Google. Anyone want to send a link that gives simple instructions?

I love my Favorites in IE

Maybe some of us just don't like Google Chrome for any number of reasons. I'm one of them. I only use Chrome as a browser of last resort. I'm a Linux-Firefox-Thunerbird enthusiast.

I had used Firefox for a long time until is CPU usage became untenable for me. I switched to Opera. Opera played all those videos (not p**n) that FF didn't want to play for me. Opera does just fine except that it won't interact with my iGive button, so I make purchases thru FF. Use Chrome? Not that Google would spy on me. (Sadly, I realize my self unimportance.) It's bad enuf that Goodgle is always sending me messages on my phone asking me about my visits to places that I drive by rather slowly...or sometime park near. Do I want to review it? Do I want to keep it on my time line? Chrome is the default on my phone. I haven't bothered to change it, so maybe my protests are not on foolish, but in vain. I trust in MS actually falls short of my trust in Google. Psi.

as a "technician" i have been testing all the major browser for years. I dropped IE, didn't use Opera much and I stayed with Firefox. Since Vivaldi is "Opera" with another name i am using now as the second browser. I rarely use chrome because i don't like the interface. to change settings takes longer than in Firefox.
I just open "task manager" and with 2 tabs with firefox ESR 52.60 using 2(firefox) entries. i open chrome 2 tabs, uses the same amount of memory and it opens 7 entries of chrome. I have also notice the ad ons for Chrome cause problems in many of the computers i repair.

P.S. I have read all the postings dated 2/12 for "your article on Opera."
I don't know who build the chart but for years i have installed in all the pc's i repair 'firefox' and tell the users not to use Chrome at all. Maybe they removed Firefox and installed Chrome because of all the 'hype".

For me there is no point to use Opera anymore, since there are differences between browser engines, not between browsers. And browser war is between engines. For long time browser is just a front-end of engine. Now dominating engine is Blink, formerly Chromium (by the way, Bob, your knowledge is outdated), others are Gecko (Mozilla), Webkit (Safari), EdgeHTML (Edge), Trident (IE, still exists). So if a web page doesn't work, I switch not browser, but engine. This is why I have Google Chrome, Edge, Mozilla. I was a fan of Opera until it ran its own engine - Presto with pretty good features. I tried Opera/Chromium and Vivaldy and didn't find anything special in them that impossible to bring through addons. So for me Opera (and others front-ends for Blink) is dead, since I prefer to use browser of engine developer, so - Google Chrome.

I've been using Opera on and off since version 3 something. They almost lost me with version 15 when all customization options disappeared completely. But I still use Opera as my main browser. No Regrets.

I'm one of those people who told Microsoft where they could shove Windows 10. I'm still using Windows 7. No Regrets.

Your argument seems to be "jump on the band wagon just for the sake of it'. My argument is that these companies, like Google, got to much of a monopoly as is. I wondering where are the lawmakers that are supposed to be protecting us from these monopolies?

My next computer will be Linux with the Opera browser. No Regrets.