And what if the page is one of perhaps 80+ very similar pages that each carries a different weather-satellite image but has no uniquely searchable page text?

Well, maybe a manual tag system.

while i do think tags are a nice addition and can simplify bookmarks for those people that have lesser needs for their browser they have one big issue for bookmarks that you dont use very often: having to actively remember stuff. In the case of seldom used sites (which you might have a few dozens of) that you only need to access every few weeks or even months you would have to actively recall what tags you might have used to categorize these pages. having a multiple layered folder structure allows you to see what you actually bookmarked, then access the folder you wish.

Tags might be able to replace bookmarks for some users and if that's the case for you you can simply not bother with the bookmark structure at all and solely rely on the tags you enter when bookmarking a page. But the majority only use them as an enhancement, for quite a big number of people (including me) they can't replace structured bookmarks alltogether.

What some people don't seem to realize is that their use-case is not everyone elses use-case and other people might have a different workflow. Just because a change in a feature doesn't affect you doesn't mean it's not a bad change. Just because i never used mouse gestures - and still don't - doesn't mean i can simply deny the fact that removing mouse gestures (are they back?) was a bad choice and should be reverted immediatly. A few of the "defenders" (sorry for the bad wording here, i could not think of a less extreme description) appear to do this with a certain degree of fanboyism (again, as a person whos first language isn't english i can't seem to find a more appropriate term here) denying them the cappability to see when their application/product of choice (in this case a brwoser) takes steps into the wrong direction.

I wouldn't say anybody loses me.
And by the way, what would they lose? Did I pay any money? Am I gonna to?

Your Data

Unfortunate comment... What data? Opera doesn't collect any meaningful data.
http://www.opera.com/privacy
A correct answer is they lose you in the users count so the revenue from partners that pay to become default search engines and Speed Dial entries would be lower as they'd consider Opera less worthy.

While I edited this already (previous to your reply, mind you), that's actually straying from the point I was trying to make.
I was merely pointing out in (what I feel to be was) a constructive manner what I do not like about the current state of the Opera browser and what is needed for it to be improved.

Since there's practically no useful communication from Opera to its users (apart from the obligatory "soon" or "we're working to bring <feature> in an upcoming releas") I just felt that I needed to somehow try and bring my concerns to a place were at least someone from Opera might stumble upon.

To re-itterate:

I am no complaining about the presto rendering engine being gone. In fact, I "don't care" (tm, patent pending) about the rendering engine being used, I care about usability.

Privacy, monetization questions are also not what I am concerned about.

I am concerned about Opera leaving it's old userbase in the dust with a 14 month old, broken browser and simplyfiying (sp?) their new release so much that their old userbase can or will not use it while trying to acquire a new userbase that is already content with other browsers (IE, Chrome, Firefox, Safari to name the big 4), all of which offer the same or even more features and one of which is basically the same browser, only that opera crosses out the name "Chrome" and writes "Opera" in in crayon and removes a few features along the way. They can't really compete with that.

So unless Opera gets its act together and tries to win back their old userbase (most of which are still using Opera 12.17), more and more of them will finally be forced to abandon Opera and Operas new userbase will be considerably smaller up to the point they can't sustain their business model anymore.

</rant>

I have 3 different browsers in use, out of approximately 4½ present, and I wouldn't say anybody loses me.
And by the way, what would they lose? Did I pay any money? Am I gonna to?

Your Data

EDIT: and their revenue stream they get from search engine hits.

All I ever hear is "they are planning to add <insert-feature-that-exists-in-12.17> in the future".

As a person that has been using and opera for I-can't-remember-how-long this is simply not satistfying. At this point I am pretty much done with Opera because the over 12 months old 12.17 is simply no longer usable on the web (lots of sites completely broken/unusable) and 15+ (24/25 currently) simply not being ready to replace. So for now I might as well switch top chrome. It's not a good browser, but it's the least horrible one.

Here's a few issues I have with the Opera 15+ releases that, unless the Opera team is going to fix these in the NEAR future (I am talking next release, they had ~10 releases to fix these by now) Opera has finally lost me. And they will loose a lot more of their old userbase, as these are complains I can hear (and by that I actually mean "read") quite often:

• Proper bookmarks support. I know 24 finally introduced bookmarks and 25 will introduce the long overdue bookmark manager, but there is still no proper way to actually access them appart from the stupid bookmark bar that takes valuable vertical screen estate away from browsing. Which brings me to my next point.

• The above point wouldn't be as big if custom buttons (customizable toolbar) was brought back. That would allow us to add a small button next to the addressbar (since modern systems have plenty of horizontal screen estate) that would give us quick access to the bookmarks without adding a stupid bar under the url bar.

• Opera Link. This has been non-functional (i.e. broken) since version 15 with the written promise that Opera is working on bringing it back. But they apparently don't. Now, often you'll read the argument "oh, so just add <insert-extension-here> and you'll have it back. Why would I choose Opera over Chrome (which are the same engine) if I have to rely on a third party extension for a feature that Chrome has built in?

• Session management. Why did you remove that? It was one of the best features ever to be implemented in Opera and no browser to this day has even come close to matching it. Now, I know that there's also a (chrome) extension to add something similar back, but the above point still applies here. Why would I chose Opera over Chrome if chrome has better features and can use the same plugin?