Dan D. (Opera)
As one whom could no longer withhold my urge to venture into the land of alterative programs, I began my venture into it with trying new web browsers.
While I can honestly say more of my time was used browsing with Firefox from it's days as Phoenix 0.2 to it's current state 1.0.4 , this is about Opera and my experience with it and how it has made my surfing better and allowed me to breathe easier. Here is why -
Security Benefits-
1. Only major browser to currently have zero security issues of any kind.
2. Unique numerical security level rating in top navigation bar providing insite as to the how secure and valid the site is.
3. Lacks un-secure component add-on system that poses threats of spyware and other unwanted content from being unknowingly installed on your pc (i.e. Internet Explorer = ActiveX ; Firefox = XUL extensions ).
Features-
1. Built-in eMail client, RSS and Atom Aggregator, and an IRC chat client.
2. True Tabbed Browsing
3. Full Page Zooming functionality
4. Mouse Gestures
5. Password Manager
6. Fastest Performance on every platform from Windows to Mac to FreeBSD and more.
7. Voice Recognition browsing.
Reliability-
1. Great user bug tracking and reporting system.
2. Mediocre, but free and reliable tech support.
3. Very fast, most standard compliant rendering by it's Presto rendering engine found in many other products from web editing software to cell phones.
4. Multiple language and operating system support
I love Opera 8.0 and am finding it to slowly replace my current browser (Firefox) and email client (Thunderbird) as it has more functionality and interoperability with it's integrated email client and so on. I might even buy it's ad-free version as it is so featureful and is much more than an app, but an integrated suite of premium sotware. Go get it NOW!