Fast - Very Fast
Written: May 26 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Speedy, well-written, slim, great display
Cons: price
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| mhudack's Full Review: Opera |
It's been a long time since anyone has had to actually pay for a Web browser. We're used to them being bundled with our new computers, for being available for download for free. Opera challenges this assumption - the assumption that Web browsers are free.
It challenges that impression well, however.
There's a term in the software industry that well describes the browsing offers from both Netscape and Microsoft: "bloatware." Generally, there's shareware, there's freeware (like most browsers), trialware, et cetera. Shareware is what Opera is - you can try it free for a while, and pay for it if you like it. Bloatware approaches a whole different concept - number of features and size of the code.
Netscape and Microsoft's HTML interperters (the heart of the browsers) haven't been rewritten since the first versions (they've been UPDATED, but old stuff hasn't been taken out). Netscape's new browser, Mozilla (aka Netscape 6) has completely rewritten interpertation software, but it isn't out yet.
All of this junk from earlier versions of HTML, and backwards-compatibility with their own non-standards-compliant interpertation means horrible speed. The code is BLOATED.
Further, they have calendars, ancient "push" applications, oversized e-mail clients, et cetera, built into the browsers. A Web browser should be for browsing the Web only. If you want integration you should be able to choose (you CAN choose with later versions of Microsoft Internet Explorer, but it still installs many "optional" components without their front-end. They're there, but you can't use them).
Here comes Opera! It has brand new interpertation code written specifically for HTML 3.2, 4.0 and CSS. It'll interpert the old stuff, and well. And it loads pages at least 40% faster. Hurray!
It also allows multiple browser windows to be well-organized and speedy (for those with higher resolutions at least).
For $35 it's a bargain if you browse the Web a lot or have a slower computer (it runs just fine on a Pentium 166 or a Pentium III 800). If you browse the Web once in a blue moon or have CPU cycles and RAM to waste, don't bother.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
mhudack
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Location: New York, NY
Reviews written: 41
Trusted by: 29 members
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