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Well, I guess the popularity is related also with marketing. Google attached a question "do you want to download Chrome" when you are entering their side. So it might helped a lot. My father is using Chrome only because he had this notification during daily surfing. Opera side is not linked to social network or searching and maybe due to this it is not the most popular browser.
Ehhh lem729... In my humble opinion only small percentage of users of new Chrome... sorry Opera - aren't missing previous featuring. I am this kind of user that likes to download software and have it fully functional. If I had to find every time extensions I would go crazy. Typical browser user is lazy. He is not sitting on Opera forum and whining about "how the browser is bad/cool". We are users (I typed in Google "how to install Opera 12.17" and I found this forum. Otherwise I would never come here).
So why everyone is saying that Opera is looking like a Chrome? Maybe because layout is very similar? For example in old Opera version history or bookmarks were in side bar and you could find grouped by pages/folders. Now new tab is opened (like in Google's browser). Also I liked to follow my downloads in side bar (I saw progress and same time I could still surf).
Also great staff was proxy settings which were independent from Windows one (in my work I am forced to use IE (maybe) due to bad coding of software in my company, but at home I can freely use same laptop to surf and I don't have to jump again to change proxy because I have to just launch Opera)
I loved also function to plug my favourite sites as icon next to address bar - now I have it with name what consume more space (and it looks like in other browsers).
Speed dial was working previously very good (I could scale it, decide how many "windows" I want to have per row - and I didn't have to scroll it if I had more. So I don't understand this excitement about new one. Yes I can make folder (what it might be not so comfortable as it is additional "click" so it "less faster"), althaugh this option is not available any more for bookmarks (already mentioned).
Of course I can tell you how big disappointment for me is lack of synchronization. It is something what I really loved (and it is in google chrome) and made my Opera personalized, but also allowed me to have same passwords and bookmarks on all my computers.
As I mentioned passwords I cannot rid of inhabit of pressing "Ctrl+ENTER" when I want to log to the side. Now it is same as in Google Chrome (pressing by mouse on account and choose your profile). Tell me that it is not same?
There was also argument that you can change wallpaper on your speed dial window. In previous opera you could do the same, changing theme.
You have told that you didn't like that previous Opera was like mammoth - it had plenty of function, what was not useful for you. Here for me this function is Discovery. For me completely useless gadget.
Just about the optimization. I cannot say that new Opera is faster. For sure in benchmarks it is fact, however nowadays we have fast computers and this 0,01 sec. to open side it is not visible (but it is my opinion)
Just to sumarize:
As I said: this is my opinion, but I believe more than few percentage of users can agree with me.
Regards!