@cdelsol Agreed. There should be an opt-in or opt-out button so that those who want to upgrade to Opera One have that option and those who would rather remain with the older version are allowed to do so.

@saeedp Sadly, as I see it now, you have two reasonable alternatives: Vivaldi and Brave. I've opted for Brave at this point.

@davidf44 Agreed. Resolution: just don't use it. When I do go to Bing (which is seldom), I never use the Chat GPT AI. I stick with reliable search engines (DuckDuckGo, Brave, Ecosia, Start Page...).

@burnout426 Wow! I would never in a thousand years have been able to figure out what you just printed. Thank you so much for taking the time and effort. I hope it will be helpful to others as well.

@habsfan said in General Opera One Appearance Feedback Topic:

they could have least put in a 'Classi Mode' button that let you have the features...but keep the look/layout of what you're used to.

Now here is a suggestion I can get solidly behind. Why not provide an easy way to either opt out or revert to the former UI? This would have kept everyone happy. BTW: there was a time I was also a Habsfan but that was back in the days of Yvon Cournoyer, Guy Lapointe, Serge Savard, Pete Mahovlich and of course Guy Lafleur. I miss that team and the matches with my Leafs. Since moving south of the border, I haven't kept up much. Take care.

@lord-of-the-lost I doubt many people are "keen to find out what is bad about the browsers they're not using." There are always going to be some people in forums that are fanboys of certain browsers and will rag on others for whatever reason but you have to bear in mind that most people never join forums and don't care one way or the other. Use whatever browser you want and leave it at that. There is no riddle waiting to be solved and there is no mystery here. Most people just don't care - period. I'm one of those, albeit I've been with Opera for so many years that I still enjoy reading the forum news and comments and yet I no longer use Opera as my daily browser. I cannot think of a single person in my extended family (both sides) that makes an issue about the browser he/she uses and they range from Google Chrome to MS Edge and over to Safari. Most of them don't even care about privacy (with one exception). You're projecting when you imply that large numbers of people care about their browsers - they don't.

@modemjunkie
"Don't wait for the fat lady to sing. This Opera is slim and trim."

Loved the article, Len. You had vision!

@hucker I've read through this thread and I feel compelled to add that it is "you" who might not understand the term "obnoxious." Why so animated? Chill out a bit. It's a browser, after all, not a life-altering issue. Relax.

@joefonebone Burnout gave a detailed account of how to revert. I don't know how to link to it so if you search you'll find it in his response to my question. The problem is, reverting will only be a temporary fix since we've been informed that Opera intends to push forward with Opera One and that the older version will only receive updates for a limited time.

@nickismyname It seems to me that you do not read with full comprehension. You've misrepresented my words, constructed a strawman and then taken him apart. Hence, your two posts are without meaning in relation to what I said. Go back to my previous post and read it again: s-l-o-w-l-y this time. I see no reason to address what you've posted nor do I see any reason to repeat what I posted before. I stand by my original post and I believe that user stats bear this out.

@DerSchlingel According to the DuckDuckGo AI, "the ownership by a Chinese company raises questions about data security and privacy, particularly due to Chinese laws that may require companies to share data with the government. Kunlun Tech's control over Opera allows it to influence the browser's features and content, which can lead to concerns about censorship and data handling practices. This ownership structure has significant implications for users regarding privacy and data security, especially given the integrated features of the Opera browser, such as its VPN service." As far as their Okash service is concerned this is the conclusion: the fair conclusion is: Opera did have lending businesses in African markets, and there were credible, specific reports of troubling lending and collection practices. But don’t treat every claim in the short-seller report as independently proven, and don’t assume those historical reports establish the current practices of every service associated with Opera.
All of this relates to exactly what you posted: "can I use the browser that I like (i.e. Opera) in good conscience" given the information above? At this point my answer is still no. I remain on the edge looking in and waiting.

@DerSchlingel Thanks for the information and sharing your experience. As I mentioned in my first post, I began in '99 when the browser used the old Presto engine. I admired the company, the services (especially the old Opera forum and the profiles they allowed back then... it was more like a family in a sense). When John left the company it seems that things began to unravel. It was at that point that I pulled away and returned to some old ways (i.e. Firefox... formerly Netscape... I actually began with Netscape 3.0 and continued on up to Netscape 9... although I disliked both versions 8 and 9 in comparison to what preceded them. Today I run Brave on my Windows computer and of course Safari on my MacBook. But I still hang about the edges of Opera and always wonder if it's a wise choice to at least give it a try. At this point... I'm still undecided.

@leocg Thanks. As you can see from the comments below the article to which you linked, Leo, I was a contributor and yes... I'm still here and I'm still on the fence. I don't publicly criticize Opera and I continue to simply ask questions mostly to help me overcome my hesitancy in using the browser I once loved. I wish it were easier for me to just let go and trust Opera but as you can see, I'm still seeking answers all these years later. Sorry.

I began using Opera in 1999 and was a loyal user up until the 2013 when the Presto engine was dropped for Web Kit. Following that debacle I went over to Firefox but still kept up with Opera although it was no longer my default. In 2016 when the company was acquired by a Chinese consortium, I pretty much bailed from the company after watching many engineers leave and reading that there was concern that the browser had backdoors (i.e. spyware). I know that the company is under Norwegian laws but the suspicion remains. Are there any legitimate reasons to be hesitant to use the browser or is this just baseless rumor? Thanks for your patience with this old, former user.

@ycomp I'm in agreement, particularly from Laporte's insistent mention of politics whenever he sees an opportunity. TWIT is nothing like it once was; a shadow really of its former self.

@canadagoose4everreturns I must be really bored but for what it's worth (not much, I suppose), let me expand before a certain somebody taps me to accompany her to the store(s). I'll use a few examples: shavers, toothbrushes and news channels. I have a bunch of electric shavers (two Norelcos, two Brauns and a Panasonic). Why so many? Well, some claim that they each cut a little differently and therefore you need to find the one that best adapts to your facial hair. Is this true? I don't really know or care that much. I have five shavers because I like shavers and I use them indiscriminately as the spirit moves me in the morning. Ha! But I'm on a shavers forum where men DO become quite emotional over their particular shaver brand to which they are loyal. Strange. I have two electric toothbrushes (Oral b io and a Sonicare) and the same can be said for those... loyal followers some of whom go on YT and diss the other brand for some strange reason. Does one actually clean better than the other? I don't know... I sort of doubt it. Why have two? I like them so I use one in the a.m. and one in the p.m. but in truth, I've no idea if one does a better job. Stick with me. News channels and/or podcasts is a bit more difficult given the undisputed fact that almost all news these days (and perhaps always) is little more than shilling for a particular ideological point of view and/or party. So... I navigate towards the news that meets my preconceived ideas of truth (and that is a tall order and one my dear wife often questions). So... what is truth? This is a question as old as the Bible (asked by a notorious governor long ago of a certain Someone who would change history forever). Indeed... in all of these examples (including the best browsers etc etc)... what is truth? I'm going to be a bit enigmatic here: truth is in a Person and not in these "things" including best browsers etc. And now... those searching eyes have discovered me at my computer and are rapidly approaching. I'm in trouble.

@celticcross Good morning, Celticcross.
Everything I say is simply my opinion and not necessarily factual. It "seems to me" that we can easily become mislead by others commenting online. If you were to take the sum total of all the commenters here and on Vivaldi's forum (etc), and then compare that number with the billions of people online who never bother with forums or asking questions about browsers, I'm certain you'd discover that the number is exceedingly small. As I've mentioned many times now, most people who go online simply don't care about the browser they're using. My wife has a MacBook and a Surface and she uses Edge on her Surface and Safari on her Mac and that's the sum total of it. If I ask her why she doesn't try Brave or Opera or whatever, her eyes would glaze over (I'm being facetious here) and she'd ask me why bother when Safari and Edge work perfectly fine. She simply doesn't care. The sum total of what Blackbird said could be summed up in this: try several and find which browser(s) works best for what you need and then go with it (them). I think a better title for this thread would be: Why are "some" people so emotional about browsers. There are fanboys... evangelists... promoters... of certain browsers but as to why, that's a mystery to me. Really... who actually cares that much? I'll use my wife (since she's sitting right across from me right now on her MacBook) as an example. What is she doing? Shopping! She cares about shopping... not browsers. Safari gets her to where she wants to go - shopping for whatever (oh my aching wallet... haha). I'm only here out of boredom and for nostalgia's sake, having been a part-time Opera user from 2000 onward until the exodus of Jon and many of his loyal developers. Do I care enough to download Opera now and run with it? After checking out Opera One, I see no reason to switch. Currently I have Edge and Brave on my Surface and Safari on my MacBook and that's really it. Hey, just go with what floats your boat. You seem, from your posts, like a great guy who is genuinely interested in technology. Watch some YT videos and do a little research to set your mind at ease as to whlch browser will best fit your needs.

@blackbird71 Well said, Blackbird. Very succinct and informative.

@traveltales All of these chromium browsers are pretty much the same with a little difference in window dressing. You can load extensions from the Chrome store and build whatever it is that you say you "need" so I'm at a loss why the hesitation to use a particular browser. You can have multiple browsers so why not download the ones in which you're interested and run with each one individually for a week to get a feel for the browser you're most comfortable with and then go with it. The browser is simply a program to get you to where you want to go for business or pleasure. Most users do not want something as customizable as Vivaldi simply because they can't be bothered playing around with the browser. Vivaldi is essentially a "geeky" browser and that is why its numbers will always be one-digit. Opera should never have changed to Opera One and because of its association with China (unfair but nevertheless true) it will always remain far behind the others. Your viable choices are: Google Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Brave (with Safari on the Mac) on Windows. And that's the long and short of it.

@bestcodes But it isn't safer. No browser password manager is safer than the open source program, Bitwarden. There are several third party pw managers as good but none better. Security software guru, Steve Gibson recommends Bitwarden. Check it out.