It also allows us to keep better statistics on downloading, which are extremely useful for a product of Opera's size - for example, we can see if suddenly all downloads are going at half speed from the US, and check if something's happening to our Content Delivery Network partners or on the wider internet that is breaking things for our customers.

But, and this part is the part I think you're interested in: if you don't want or need it, there's no need to use it. On Opera's download page for Mac, http://www.opera.com/computer/mac , you'll see a link that says "Prefer to install Opera later? Download the offline package." The link leads to a standard Mac .dmg file that you can put wherever you like.

I keep all of my Internet-related programs in a folder inside the Applications folder, which, in a fit of creativity, I named "Internet Stuff." With a normal installer, I would simply drag Opera to the appropriate folder and it's installed.

With this non-standard installer, I had to move the file out of the Applications folder and into the "Internet Stuff" folder, replacing the one that was already there.

It's not a lot of work, but the Mac is all about the "look and feel" thing, and that installer doesn't look or feel like a Mac installer.