Opera 9.5 available

[+JuggerNaut+]

This is the first major release in almost two years. It's faster and more feature-laden by default than ever before. If you've never tried Opera or if it's been awhile, I highly suggest you give 9.5 a spin. If you've got a ton of FF extensions, then Opera may not be for you, but if you have a few or none, download and try it out.

Also take a look at Opera mini for lower non smart-phones and Opera mobile for smart phones. On my Sony Ericsson, mini is really quick and much better than the default SE browser.

Homepage

Features (new and existing)

[+JuggerNaut+]

forgot to mention that they fixed a couple of quirks when using Gmail with this release (actually a beta ago) and it is now my default browser. just sayin.

[^misantropia^]

I'm sure all three Opera users will be well pleased with this new release. =)

[+JuggerNaut+]

which is a little mind boggling, but i blame it on their advertising or lack thereof moreso than any weakness with the browser itself.

[Foo]

It's not open source?

[+JuggerNaut+]

nope. not on you, but it's funny how many people cry about that yet use all kinds of other proprietary software.

[Foo]

True. I'd guess it's the barrier though... there's a positive perception around open source vs 'investing' in an application which is owned and controlled by a single company.

Personally I'm not fussed, but FF is fine for me and hence I've just stuck with it. Tried Opera out, works fine, no need for another browser. If FF continues to get flowery I'll probably switch.

[+JuggerNaut+]

my only gripe with FF is still the (albeit small compared to previous versions) memory leak. i'm a netvibes whore and with that page open half of the day or more, FF will shoot up to 200K or so, not a big deal but it gets REAL sluggish for me and i have 2GB of RAM and only two extensions (Adblock and noscript).

Opera 9.5 will get that high for me too, but i wouldn't know it until i looked at the mem usage.

[obsidian]

On the contrary, FF3 has the best memory usage scores out of IE, Opera and Safari.

Opera wins on startup time and Safari wins on Javascript/CSS.

http://www.lifehacker.com.au/tips/2008/ ... rs_-2.html

[+JuggerNaut+]

maybe you didn't read my post.

[obsidian]

I'm referring to the memory leak issue. It doesn't seem to be a problem anymore in FF3. You may still have issues with certain extensions or websites, but that's a different story. I've been running the FF3 RC and there's no memory leak as far as I can tell. I'm not saying that FF is better than Opera, just that there is no noticeable memory leak.

[Captain]

Funny, FF2 never goes above 65K in RAM usage and I've got about 8 add-ons.

[+JuggerNaut+]

I'm referring to the memory leak issue. It doesn't seem to be a problem anymore in FF3. You may still have issues with certain extensions or websites, but that's a different story. I've been running the FF3 RC and there's no memory leak as far as I can tell. I'm not saying that FF is better than Opera, just that there is no noticeable memory leak.

yep, i don't know if it's a leak or what, but for what i specified and the sites i have to have open, that's what happens under FF3RC3 for me.

[+JuggerNaut+]

Funny, FF2 never goes above 65K in RAM usage and I've got about 8 add-ons.

yet again...it may be netvibes giving FF a beating, i don't know, but opera 9.5 doesn't have this issue.

[Lieutenant Dan]

I tried out Opera again with this release and now I'm using it as my default browser.