Some big[-ish] news from the browser world this week, Opera have made the decision to offer their browser for free. This is a huge move for Oslo based Opera who before this charged $39 for their browser (there was also a free version with annoying ads at the top). With 100,000 buyers per year the $3.9m was a big part of their $28m annual sales which makes this move so surprising. Some investigation from Om Malik has uncovered that Google is behind the move. Apparently Opera have signed a “referral-for-dollars” agreement with Google (amongst others). Mozilla have done the same and they earn about $30m per year from the deal!!
I always thought it was ridiculous that Opera was charging for their browser, even more so with the emergence of Firefox. Opera’s a decent browser but in all honesty you get fuck all for the $39.
Other browser news, the current browser war is heating up. Firefox has just had to plug another security hole (and a fairly serious one at that) adding to the row over browser security. This one has really dented Mozilla’s claims that Firefox is more secure than IE Shit Six.
One to watch out for; some ex-Mozilla guys (afaik) are developing a new browser called Flock. I haven’t managed to get a copy yet though, still waiting for my invite.
Also: it didn’t occur to me when posting yesterday but I recently installed K-Meleon and it’s immediatly become my no.2 browser. It’s a basic web browser but is extremely fast, customizable and lightweight, and a fine little program worth trying out [Windows only].
I have six browsers loaded on the iBook (order of preference):
1. Safari
2. Firefox
3. Mozilla
4. Camino
5. Shiira
6. Opera (free ad-loaded version)
Not counting IE, which I don’t, as they stopped developing for Mac a few years ago.
I’ve been meaning to do a post comparing and contrasting all of these, but as yet, haven’t been able to muster the necessary enthusiasm.
Ya beat me by a few:
1. Firefox (all I ever use really)
2. K-Meleon
3. Opera
4. Netscape
Plus IE5 & 6
I had Avant but it’s just like a fancy IE so I got rid of it.
Had Mozilla too but deleted it.
I never heard of Shiira before. Any good? (hardly, being at number 5 – Ed)
To be honest, I do 99.9% of my browsing using Safari and Firefox, mostly because they are both RSS-enabled, and being a country lad, I appreciate a good Feed.
I keep Mozilla there because it has the Composer feature on it, which I find handy for learning HTML.
Shiira is actually a nice browser, with a real Mac OS X feel to it. It has tabs and all the usual stuff, but it also has some nice unique features as well. OS X has a feature called Exposé which shrinks all your open windows on the desktop, so that you can switch between them quickly. Shiira does the same for open tabs, which is kinda cute.
“being a country lad, I appreciate a good Feed.” LOL
There’s no learning to HTML Gerry, it’s easy stuff
I use (used, i’ve been awful lazy during 2005) HTML-Kit for all web related stuff (xhtml, css, php etc). It has a handy IE/Moz side by side preview feature.
Exposé sounds cool. I wonder why they haven’t considered something like that for Firefox, unless it works off the functionality available only on Mac?? (all this is so far over my head I don’t even hear the sonic boom as it passes)
Your post prompted me to look at Shiira again, and I have since installed the most up to date version.
It’s a really good browser that manages to capture the best of both Safari and Firefox, though without the RSS features. Another update is due soon, so hopefully that will be addressed.