As it turns out, I don't really use Opera any more. I could not conform it to my work flow, and the Opera team were not at all interested in what I needed to do so, after the change to Blink.

I do still keep a copy of the old Opera 12.18 installed in order to use the mail client, and I keep an eye on development, but that's it. No other browser available could adjust to my needs, either, until I ran into Vivaldi. So that is my default. It's a young browser yet, but it came right out of the gate with things I had been bugging the Opera team to restore, in terms of conformability, ever since the Blink change, and could not make any headway.

The sale to the Chinese was the final nail in the coffin for Opera for me. The worst respecters of data privacy and intellectual property ever to grace the face of the planet cannot get my support, I'm afraid.

So to each his own, I suppose. Contrary to the experience of @sgunhouse , I do not find Vivaldi at all buggy. Plus, it is the only browser in the world I can shape to my needs. So not to be a real downer, but "why use Opera?" I don't. I wish they could have retained my loyalty, but they were not interested in it.

@coffeelover Oh, golly. I suppose now that I've chimed in, I can't just let this lie.

I used Olde Opera as long as @wojcieche . There was a reason for that. It provided something(s) no other browser did. That ended with Opera Blink.

While I am not in favor of derogatory terms, I also am not in favor of subtle/covert slagging-off of a competitor.

Vivalidi is bug-free for certain use patterns, and buggy for others - just as Opera is.

It's true most see the return to an opulent suite as a leap backwards. For those who disagree, there is Vivaldi. It exists only because we exist - those who feel confined by bare-bones simplicity. Vivaldi was invented for us, not for you. I don't see that as a disqualifier.

"...something that very few users (i.e. ayespy) need for their 'work flow' or so they claim." I will thank you not to accuse me of lying. If Opera, which I used for fourteen years, kept up with my needs, I would have stuck with it. I did not move to a new platform for imaginary or fictitious reasons. K? K. And Vivaldi was targeted at, proportionally, "very few users." It is not intended to compete with the "big boys" in the market, but rather to satisfy the needs of users that the market, in all its wisdom, abandoned.

"...These same users would adjust their workflow to another browser within a short time..." I tried for two years to do that with the new, Blink Opera. What do you define as a short time?

"Vivaldi is built for those who want infinite customizability..." Bingo. Are we not also valid human beings? As part of a minority, is it our fate to be ignored, discarded, or forced to "adapt?" While I have a choice, I will choose.

"Can a small, insignificant company like Vivaldi keep abreast?" Why, yes. For the last four years it has kept abreast. Its acceptance and economic vigor have nearly doubled in the last year.

"It would surprise me if we see this browser still in development three years from now." Prepare to be surprised.

While not using terms to which you object, you nonetheless "politely" slag off a newcomer to the market, doing exactly what it was intended to do. Please, feel free to ignore it. It's not relevant to your life, apparently, and no concern of yours.

@sgunhouse Exactly. Well said.

@coffeelover And if present trends continue, Vivaldi will have plenty of users to keep it afloat. Next you will be telling us that Harley Davidson will soon go out of business because too few people buy its product. A Harley isn't for everyone - but it's for enough people that the company's future is assured.

@coffeelover said in Why Use Opera?:

Why do you find it imperative that you come over to the Opera forum and trumpet the wonders of Vivaldi?

I don't find it imperative. Truth told, the comment by @sgunhouse drew me here. Knowing him from the Vivaldi community, I was surprised to see it, and a little taken aback.

If you like such a (redacted insult) suite... great.

Yes - I think it's great, too.

But why denigrate Opera in the Opera forum?

I didn't denigrate Opera. I did express my frustration at their path, but I suppose I'm still a bit mad at them for abandoning me. I have never done so on the Chrome or Firefox forums, but then I never cared about them, nor thought they cared about me. You know, "there's no fanatic like a convert." I also have nothing bad to say about women I never knew. A lover who jilted me, however...

Would you appreciate a bunch of Opera users coming over to Vivaldi's forum and ridiculing it? I doubt it.

It happens more than you would imagine. I see it regularly. I tolerate it fine. It's a signal that Vivaldi has some gaps to fill.

By the way, I am a coffee addict. What sort of brew do you favor?

@coffeelover Seattle's Best is a tad rich for my pocketbook. We consume entirely too much of it around here to be careless about the cost. It's good, but I enjoy fresh-ground (by me) Jose's from Costco equally, and find the economic pinch bearable. Something like $4.38/lb is not bad. My preference overall is 100% Arabica, grown in either Colombia or Hawaii.

And, by the way, I can appreciate your position on the browser. I used Opera from abt 2000, and was an avid (rabid?) defender of it on this site even after the change, from 2013 to 2015. I get loyalty. Had it not abandoned support for my use patterns, or if an offering that did support my use patterns had not appeared, I'd probably be loyal still. For me, once I got used to Opera, trying to use IE, Edge, FF or Chrome was always a bit like sitting on marbles.

You have a lovely day.

@coffeelover said in Why Use Opera?:

Why do you find it imperative that you come over to the Opera forum and trumpet the wonders of Vivaldi?

I don't find it imperative. Truth told, the comment by @sgunhouse drew me here. Knowing him from the Vivaldi community, I was surprised to see it, and a little taken aback.

If you like such a (redacted insult) suite... great.

Yes - I think it's great, too.

But why denigrate Opera in the Opera forum?

I didn't denigrate Opera. I did express my frustration at their path, but I suppose I'm still a bit mad at them for abandoning me. I have never done so on the Chrome or Firefox forums, but then I never cared about them, nor thought they cared about me. You know, "there's no fanatic like a convert." I also have nothing bad to say about women I never knew. A lover who jilted me, however...

Would you appreciate a bunch of Opera users coming over to Vivaldi's forum and ridiculing it? I doubt it.

It happens more than you would imagine. I see it regularly. I tolerate it fine. It's a signal that Vivaldi has some gaps to fill.

By the way, I am a coffee addict. What sort of brew do you favor?

@coffeelover And if present trends continue, Vivaldi will have plenty of users to keep it afloat. Next you will be telling us that Harley Davidson will soon go out of business because too few people buy its product. A Harley isn't for everyone - but it's for enough people that the company's future is assured.

@sgunhouse Exactly. Well said.

@coffeelover Oh, golly. I suppose now that I've chimed in, I can't just let this lie.

I used Olde Opera as long as @wojcieche . There was a reason for that. It provided something(s) no other browser did. That ended with Opera Blink.

While I am not in favor of derogatory terms, I also am not in favor of subtle/covert slagging-off of a competitor.

Vivalidi is bug-free for certain use patterns, and buggy for others - just as Opera is.

It's true most see the return to an opulent suite as a leap backwards. For those who disagree, there is Vivaldi. It exists only because we exist - those who feel confined by bare-bones simplicity. Vivaldi was invented for us, not for you. I don't see that as a disqualifier.

"...something that very few users (i.e. ayespy) need for their 'work flow' or so they claim." I will thank you not to accuse me of lying. If Opera, which I used for fourteen years, kept up with my needs, I would have stuck with it. I did not move to a new platform for imaginary or fictitious reasons. K? K. And Vivaldi was targeted at, proportionally, "very few users." It is not intended to compete with the "big boys" in the market, but rather to satisfy the needs of users that the market, in all its wisdom, abandoned.

"...These same users would adjust their workflow to another browser within a short time..." I tried for two years to do that with the new, Blink Opera. What do you define as a short time?

"Vivaldi is built for those who want infinite customizability..." Bingo. Are we not also valid human beings? As part of a minority, is it our fate to be ignored, discarded, or forced to "adapt?" While I have a choice, I will choose.

"Can a small, insignificant company like Vivaldi keep abreast?" Why, yes. For the last four years it has kept abreast. Its acceptance and economic vigor have nearly doubled in the last year.

"It would surprise me if we see this browser still in development three years from now." Prepare to be surprised.

While not using terms to which you object, you nonetheless "politely" slag off a newcomer to the market, doing exactly what it was intended to do. Please, feel free to ignore it. It's not relevant to your life, apparently, and no concern of yours.

As it turns out, I don't really use Opera any more. I could not conform it to my work flow, and the Opera team were not at all interested in what I needed to do so, after the change to Blink.

I do still keep a copy of the old Opera 12.18 installed in order to use the mail client, and I keep an eye on development, but that's it. No other browser available could adjust to my needs, either, until I ran into Vivaldi. So that is my default. It's a young browser yet, but it came right out of the gate with things I had been bugging the Opera team to restore, in terms of conformability, ever since the Blink change, and could not make any headway.

The sale to the Chinese was the final nail in the coffin for Opera for me. The worst respecters of data privacy and intellectual property ever to grace the face of the planet cannot get my support, I'm afraid.

So to each his own, I suppose. Contrary to the experience of @sgunhouse , I do not find Vivaldi at all buggy. Plus, it is the only browser in the world I can shape to my needs. So not to be a real downer, but "why use Opera?" I don't. I wish they could have retained my loyalty, but they were not interested in it.