Opera doesn't even has a home page, so having a home button has no meaning.
Nonsense. Opera does have a homepage. Some of you just are confused about what a homepage is. In the settings it has "Open a specific page or set of pages". This may not have been named home page, but that's what it is.
It's common sense, that if I have chosen that setting, then of course I want a button that takes me to that page, but even more importantly, I want that page to open, when I open a new tab.
It is a senseless trend, that a new tab, doesn't by default open the same page, that you set to open with browser startup. But what's worse, is that this option doesn't even exist. It's something you need an extension for.
Browser have gone a completely wrong way. Instead of adapting to how the users want to browse, they now have started to dictate how the user should browse.
You could argue that with the Speed Dial functionality, a homepage is redundant...
No, you couldn't.
First of all, that would require an extra click, to get to your desired homepage.
Second of all, some people have no interest in the speed dial, in any kind of way. It has nothing, that I desire as my homepage, start page, new tab page, etc.