I am a student and thus I am constantly doing desperate research for hours at a time. As a student here is what I need a browser to do:
* Be stable
* Be fast
* Be simple
* Be useful

All these things are what Opera is. When researching for hours, I cannot begin to count the number of times my computer crashes due to some error in my browser (both IE5.5 and Communicator 4.71). Somehow they seem to notice how desperate I am and find a sick pleasure in "bumping" me offline. Opera, on the other hand, is very stable and reminds me more of a Linux type program than a Windows based program. Not once has Opera crashed, and I have yet to find errors on the page due to the browser's own mistakes.
Opera reminds me of a Porsche Carrera compared to IE as a Lincoln Towncar. IE will get you there in comfort, but Opera will tear up the road and leave IE in the dust. I have done some elementary comparisons of my own and I found that Opera loaded pages on average 37 seconds faster. This means for every 10 sites you visit, you save 5 minutes. Obviously, if you are a broadband user and pages pop up for you, this is not a strong point. But for the many users who still dial up their ISP, no matter what job or age you are, you want speed.
Opera is also very simple to use. I think that all browsers are quite simple, and with the beauty of Opera, it still keeps it's ease of use in spite of having a decidedly less "large corporation"-ish feel.
The hotlist is a fabulous idea that I think should be adopted by every browser. Netscape sort of has the right idea with their bookmarks that seem to have the right idea, but Opera has put the list in a tremendously useful location that helps to speed up browsing on the human side of things.
Of course I do have my gripes, the stinking advert bar just about makes me sick with the reruns that pop through, first the one about online gambling, then about live support on your website ---- all these things highly unwanted by me. And I see them every time, interspersed with about 3 other adverts.
Besides that, Opera is amazing for those who what speed and stability.

Recommended: Yes