Does this really count as good news? The choice a user makes on the ballot screen is essentially random. That their downloads triple just says that they originally had very few downloads.
Ins and outs Opera is a very good browser, mine favorite. I think they just have that bad karma, possibly stuck to them from the ealy days when they used to display ads on the toolbar.
As a developer I either want complete and utter domination by one browser (so I only have to test on that one) or lots of browsers with reasonable market share (making standards compliance crucial).
The current situation is almost the worst imaginable. I have to develop for the (mostly) standard compliant browsers like IE8/Firefox/Chrome and then tweak for IE6 and IE7.
I believe this is good news because it's insurance against another IE6 coming along.
Your "new version"-concern is addressed in the third paragraph: Assev said the swell of downloads was above and beyond the increase caused by the final release of Opera 10.5 for Windows yesterday. "We compared the downloads against previous launches, such as Opera 10.0, 10.10 and 9.5, and the tripling is above what we would normally expect with a new version launch," he said.
Yes - "above and beyond" but still affected by the new release which means that the ballot didn't cause downloads to triple - to increase, but not to the extent that the headline makes it seem. They don't even try to explain what kind of increase above what they would expect they are getting. maybe its double what they expected, maybe its 5%. The fact that they don't really go into it makes me a bit suspicious.
the tripling is above what we would normally expect with a new version launch
I read that as, "Our daily download rate tripling is above what we would expect for a new version launch."
However, it is still off base to attribute it to the MS page - I downloaded the new version and have (at least temporarily) switched to Opera from Chrome due to the announcement here on Hacker Hews. I've never seen an Opera release here before, so that must count as a one-off too.
So they got their wish. They got the EU to enforce a browser ballot to gain popularity because their marketshare blows. It's funny how Mozilla never needed to use government to get to the 25% marketshare they have.
What difference does it make if the EU gives you the boost or if Google does? Either way it helps take the internet out of IE's hands, lets just be thankful for that.
Also, woot Opera. I really do feel it could be a dominant browser if given a chance. It has the best mouse gestures interface, built in torrent support, excellent dev tools, fastest js engine on the market, superb standards support, and a very sleek UI. Good to see it get some attention, even if it is a bit forced.
I remember the surprise that I experienced when Opera suddenly appeared on my Macbook. I had no idea how it happened, until I did some research and discovered that it gets installed with the Adobe CS.
There were ancient versions of the free Opera.app buried inside the app bundles for several programs in the Adobe Suite at least through CS3. If I remember correctly, both Help Viewer and Bridge wrap Opera. They hid it from the user, but not from LaunchServices -- right click on an html file, open with, and there would be at least one copy of Opera there. Launching it would reveal it to be from back when the free version had a banner ad in the browser chrome...
Acrobat Professional had a full copy of MySQL included in its bundle, and there'd be a mysqld process running whenever it was.
When they switch to WebKit, they'll probably bundle their whole own copy of that too, probably via their Air runtime.
My awareness of Opera comes mostly from the fact that their people are always the ones complaining to the European Commission about Microsoft. "Not that Microsoft isn't loathsome ...", but that's not the sort of publicity that's given me a great urge to try their browser.
I have been using Opera for a year or two now, and yes, I wasn't very impressed by their complaint to the EU. I don't even think Microsoft is loathsome.
If you don't know anything about Opera, I suggest you install it and find out.
They indeed only needed to be the almost only free alternative to IE for a while, on Windows. Anyway, this "using government" is as good for Firefox as for Opera, no need to be condescending.
