My honest thoughts about the new Opera

aryte

aryte

Someone posted in a deleted thread that Opera is dead.

This is my original response:

Maybe yes its development is dead, but there are plenty of users who still love the REAL OPERA, not this chromium farce. Ever since they "upgraded" Opera, it has not been the same. I miss the interface customization, I miss the ability to tweak my settings however I wished, I miss the control I had with Opera 12 (which is why I still have it). If I wanted to use Chrome I would use it! But I do not wish to, because ANYTHING related to chrome is CRUD!
Its like when they wanted to make Windows Bob, it was an insult to computer users everywhere... wait they still made a Windows for what Microsoft considers "dumb" users, they call it Windows 8. This attitude I have mentioned is what I do not like about this "new" Opera, it thinks its users are dumb and takes away control from the user.
Is this what Opera software thinks of its users? That we can't make use of the advanced features previous Opera Browsers had? Or is it Google's pressure that is making this "new" product be so... contemptible?

Now this is me expanding to my original response:

This is about threads that are being deleted/closed because they are thought of as useless. If you do not like what users have to say, then how do you expect to improve and maintain your client base? If you delete posts and threads like this then you are not interested in our input, you are just afraid we are speaking the truth, or at least that is the MESSAGE your are sending.
You need to allow your users to express their concerns, to voice what they feel about Opera, because that is what the Opera experience should be (and was) about. The emotion when one used this browser, that good feeling brought by using the best damn product in the market that motivated you, that is what made Opera great!
Opera can be and WILL be that great product once more, IF the devs cared about LISTENING to the clamors of its clients! I've used Opera for years, even when it was a paid for browser! What else can you expect out of your loyal followers? I know there are plenty out there who are just as loyal, who CARE about Opera. They may not all have the same concerns I do, but I bet they have some of their own, and are they being allowed to express that here? I'll let the Moderator decide that answer.

Thank you for reading and understanding, and apologies for the weird way I approached the topic.

Sincerely
Aryte
Registered user account on October 2009

Deleted User

Deleted User

This will be closed in the same way.

A Former User

Sorry? What topic was deleted? This one?
https://forums.opera.com/topic/4276/opera-is-dead

No it was not deleted.

It's a duplicate of 2 different topics already discussed before though. Additionally, the flame-bait title doesn't help it.

aryte

aryte

I did state I was responding to a thread, I am unaware if the person was spamming the subject. I've had my own threads closed for saying I do not like the new opera on several occasions, or closed, when it was Opera 15 I made a list of things missing, when it was 20 I did the same, both times closed/deleted. If someone thinks it is flame bait its their opinion. I am just stating my opinion. I know what ppl think of opinions these days and how everyone has one. I am fine with being ignored, but from time to time I like to let my displeasure be known, I think it will help the devs know I have NOT lost interest in OPERA. Even if it is in my own way.

lem729

lem729

I'll take the new Opera any day. This thread should be closed as repetitive of numerous threads in the past. You're unhappy. So sorry. But what have you said, aryte. Zero, zilch, nothing, other than that you like the old Opera, hate the new one, and are unhappy about threads being closed, yada yada yada.

A Former User

I think all of us who loved the original Opera are hoping and praying that eventually the new version will evolve into something that is at least approaching as good as the original.
I'm not expecting things like built in e-mail clients and torrent clients to ever be included again, things have moved on and that's not realistic.
I just hope the Blink based Opera will eventually at least have some of the customability of the original, and its awesome usability, where almost everything was seldom more than one click away, without having to install endless extensions.
I still live in hope.
And please people don't keep calling for these threads to be closed. Even though it's all been said many times before, these are people with genuine grievances and just shutting down their comments smacks of censorship and suppression of criticism.
If you want just merge the critical threads together into one huge "we don't like the new Opera" thread, if it's possible to actually do that on this primitive forum!

lem729

lem729

It's far better than the original, davehawley, at least in my humble opinion, I prefer Opera 23 more, but we have 20, 200? 2000? threads on this issue. It's time to move on. The original had a lot of features I never cared for or needed. With Opera 23, I love the features it comes with, including, in particular, the totally wonderful Speed Dial (in which you can make folders for each Speed Dial position), and Discover (which is a super treat) (like a mult-national, multi-subject, mult-language, highly informative RSS feed). I love the blazing fast speed, the fact that Opera can now access more sites, that it does far better with HTML5, etc. And best of all, that it can use almost any extension in the Chrome store. The new Opera is a delight. As for the continual venting of those who are unhappy, I think it does very little for the Opera forum other than to confuse new users.

What goes around, comes around, and negativity has a way of hurting everyone. We have a suggestion for those who want features. But the vague general angst. I think the time for that is past. Let's help people enjoy the new browser, or make use of the old one. Appreciate that we have both, so the choices are great. Opera has given us a good browsing world.

lem729

lem729

I meant to say, there's a "suggestion box," for those who want new features. I'm always incoherent in my writing before my second cup of coffee in the morning.

Deleted User

Deleted User

There is no point to this thread as lem pointed out. It does not address problems and seek solutions but is simply a repeat of complaints we've heard hundreds of times before. What possible good could come from leaving this thread active? When people complain about bookmarks, that's understandable and it gives us an opportunity to educate them in regards to how to properly use the new Opera. Simply whining about closed threads saying that Opera is losing a chance to hear from its user base is disingenuous. Please consider closing this thread.

A Former User

Well before this is closed like all the others, let me just say that I have no problem at all with the new version of Opera, as I said before I'm hoping and believing that it will evolve into a real challenger to the "big three" of Google Chrome, Firefox, and IE.
I don't agree that it's better than the old Presto version, it's just different, and it's "horses for courses".
The average user would be perfectly happy with it I'm sure for simple everyday browsing, which is where the mass market is now.
For power users it's still a great disappointment however.
I was using it yesterday to fill in a form on a site that no longer works in 12.17.
I was so used to being able to just right click and "insert personal" information I had come to totally take it for granted.
Compared with that the form auto-fill system on Opera 24 is terrible, there is no option to add custom fields like reference numbers, and it put almost all my address information into the wrong place!
Just an example of something that used to be so quick and simple and now has to virtually be done from scratch manually.
Before you tell me there's an extension that can do what I want, I'm quite sure that there is, but how many extensions would someone like me need to install to get back even some of the functionality of 12.17? I hate to think, and every extension slows things down just that little bit.

@leushino, I have always agreed with a lot of what you say, but please don't keep accusing people of whining.
It's a thoroughly insulting term and implies that there is no justification for what's being said, which is not the case.

lem729

lem729

Horses to courses. I like that, davehawley. That's a good one.

But even for power users, with the right extension, you can do a hell of a lot that you never could with the old Opera. Maybe you can't replicate everyone you like, but you can find new things that you never had before, that you may well come to like. I'm sure leushino didn't mean to offend you. I think for him and for me these general threads (complaint (whine?) :))) threads :)?)(I prefer wine myself) (so salut to you) get frustrating, though I do know davehawley that you are an invaluable Opera person, and I do respect your knowledge, and very significant contribution to the forum. And also, hey, I've never suggested that Opera Presto didn't do a lot that was good, and certainly for power users have some features better than the New Opera. It's just that the general, relatively unspecific negative post becomes a bit of a drag after all these months -- for old users, who have switched to and like the new Opera, and for new users. For specific features, there's the suggestion box. Otherwise, why knock one's head against the wall. You're right. Opera Blink may have more native features in the future, and users also may find more extensions that help them. Hopefully soon the angst may be less, and for the time being (the best of both worlds), Opera Presto and Opera Blink are available for download.

I agree with leushino that a general complaint thread adds nothing to the forum, and should be closed, though I'm not a moderator, so I defer to them. As to specifics grievances that might educate and inform users, that's a different matter. In any event, my feeling is that when it comes to the browser horse race -- whatever the course -- I'd still bet on Opera.

tradeofjane

tradeofjane

[Mod edit: Rude, derogatory post removed, Remember this is a public forum]

A Former User

Amen to that @lem729.
I wish we could all just work together to keep the spirit of Opera alive.
I still believe in Opera, and I don't believe they've sold out to anyone.
Once they decided that keeping Presto going wasn't viable any more they could have opted to go with Mozilla, which is open source as Chromium is.
Just because they opted for Chromium doesn't mean that they've sold their soul to Google!

linuxmint7

linuxmint7

What a disgusting, vulgar response. Moderators? Why would you let this post stand? This is exactly what I knew would happen if such a thread were left active. Tell me... what possible benefit to the user community can be gained by allowing a post such as the above to go unchecked? Unbelievable.

lem729

lem729

You're right on, leushino. If that's the norm for the forum, good people want won't want to waste their time with it, and you will get more posts like that. We can do better here. Exactly what davehawley referred to, to "keep the spirit of Opera alive," and also, of this forum that for many years was one of the best around. Well, probably the "best."

Now, if they could give us a better forum search engine, we all might become inspired to improve our posts. As it is, even if someone writes a post like the great William Shakespeare on the Opera browser (surely the bard would have liked Opera -- Presto and Blink) :), why the current forum search vehicle would never be able to find it. Imagine something. à la Hamlet, as great as "to browse or not to browse, that is the question," lost forever. All I could say to why the search vehicle here is bad is, to quote the bard, "something is rotten in Denmark," though my apologies to any Danish forum users here I may have offended with that.