MACSOLU  --

Definitely still a work in progress. The Yahoo home page (now "New & Improved" - blech) is very improperly rendered... paragraph/body text is squished to a single character and goes straight down vertically, like this:

T

h

i

s

i

s

s

c

r

e

w

e

d

!  
(Version 10.10.6776)

OZEAN  I wonder when they will enable the new video and audio elements of HTML5? They have offered special builds that include this functionality for quite a while, but support for these elements hasn’t made it into the official release yet…  
(Version 10.10.6670)

MACINEN  Thanks Steven Goodheart and Orion. I found the solution to the problem and still blame Opera: The bookmarks.plist stays gray (not choosable) and the html form from Safari (to the desktop) stays gray too. I have the newest Snow Leopard on MacPro 8-core and I have MBP from this summer. The same thing with the laptop, btw.

The problem was language! Opera is automatically taking finnish as my language (OSX). When I changed Opera's language to english the bookmarks were imported just fine. (Then I had to change back to finnish again and destroy the english prefs). I think this is something they should look at in the Opera-company: importing should work with every language.  
(Version 10.01)

JPP_ZOSO  (former) long time opera user...since os/2 warp days, which i believe was opera v4.x. have finally given up after the huge disappointment that v10.x has turned out to be.

i used to admire opera for constantly introducing new features vs. just copying features that most other browser developers were doing...but i fear this creativity and innovation streak has finally come at the cost of the core software functionality and purpose. widgets was the first clue...doesn't every os already have widgets? unite is the latest clue...do we really need this in a web browser?

my primary use for opera, admittedly, was their integrated email client, m2. it has been several versions since m2 received any development time, so when v10.x was pre-announced as finally enhancing m2, i was pumped. sadly, opera has managed to fubar m2. it was, imho, the best mail client w/ no real competition, but opera managed to kill it. filters (including the built-in contacts) have been buggered up since v9.x and have gotten worse w/ each release. they're unpredictable, inaccurate, omit large portions of messages, and too easy to break. imap accounts no longer allow importing of mail locally. wth? significant rendering and printing problems for both plain text and html messages...wysiwyg not so much, largely due to weird scaling issues. the mac version launch times have gotten slower w/ each release since v8.x...v10.x is a joke on PPC, triple digit bounces in the dock, i kid you not.

the browser has alway had strange issues w/ specific sites. whaddya gonna do when the world codes for others and not for standards? browser has always been top notch, but as with any browser, i doubt you could live with this one alone.

on the plus side, the gui has finally also gotten some attention, and it is a huge improvement. kudos to the opera design team, especially john hicks.   
(Version 10.01)

MACMAN8  I share the same concerns voiced in the previous note. One thing that is missing is the ability to Import from and HTML bookmark file from any browser. Another concern I have is that when I install updates of Opera downloaded from MacUpdate, it erases all of my existing bookmarks, forcing me to import them again, and reorganize them my way again from scratch. When updates from Firefox or Safari are installed, bookmarks are untouched. Opera may be a good browser, but these two pesky problems are not worth my continued downloading of updates, unless they correct these two issues.  
(Version 10.01)

MACINEN  It's quite long time ago since I last tried Opera, and still the same problem as then: Opera won't import my Safari bookmarks (and can not find Firefox bookmarks). Yes, it finds the right place in my own library/Safari/bookmarks.plist, but you can't choose it because it's grayed out! Exactly the same thing as before! And I have different machine as then.

I have very very many bookmarks and I am not going to put them all in opera manually. So goodbye again Opera.  
(Version 10.10.6735)

DJEFIS  The faster and nice web Browser that i know!!!  
(Version 10.10.6735)

MACZENTRUM  I like the new Opera, has changed a lot since previous releases... congrats Opera!  
(Version 10.10.6735)

SAVO33BRAVO THE LIAR  UFFFF ! beautiful .... LOVE IT !!! So fast and smooth WOW !!!

The only thing in mean time is luck of 1PASSWORD otherwise this is my browser hands down ...  
(Version 10.0)

JON555  Still doesn't have Smooth Scrolling. I never realized such a simple feature could have such a big impact on regular browsing.  
(Version 10.0)

DRDUL  I was interested in Opera primarily for the mail component. My wife uses Thunderbird, and I've been looking for a better mail app for her. The Opera UI is nice, and the unified mailbox is great. But the lack of integration with the OS X Address Book is a deal breaker. Opera imports contacts from Address Book, but any subsequent changes in Address Book aren't caught by Opera, and if you add a contact in Opera it doesn't get synced back to Address Book.  
(Version 10.0)

ALLANMACAM  If only I could use 1Password with it I would be a convert  
(Version 10.0rc1)

ERICG  Opera is just so frustrating. I want to use it, but it just doesn't make that possible. I downloaded ver. 10.0rc1 and not only does it continue to fail pages as central to the web experience as igoogle, but it also did not allow me to enter an item for sale at ebay. I could not "enter" data fields. It's back to Safari and Firefox for me. I think they should stick to what they do well, the mini-browser. I'm done with Opera.  
(Version 10.0rc1)

KAWAII  I've run Opera in the past with alot of hesitation due to incompatibilities between websites and the browser itself. I'm running Opera 10.0Rc1 on Snow Leopard 10A432 - this is the first time I can confidently say that I can use Opera as a full time browser.

If the final keeps building on 10.0Rc1 success then they've won a convert :)  
(Version 10.0rc1)

ERICG  I find that I really root for Opera to beat up on the big guys, but to my disappointment, what it doesn't do right forces me to return to Firefox and Safari. Two problems. One: it just can't render igoogle pages correctly. Every other browser does this perfectly, but Opera doesn't. My NY Times news feed consists of 7 items. Often I see only the first item when using Opera 10. The same applies to other newsfeeds. Two, I use wordpress.org for my blog and some elements of wordpress ver. 2.8x don't work right with Opera - such as inserting an image into a post. Until Opera gets page rendering right, I can't use it. I do love its speed and beautiful interface.  
(Version 10.0b3)

LEE123  I just have to write in again on this. This browser is really coming along and I am using it as my default. It has some great features. I love the sync and notes feature. The notes can grab anything off a web page or you can write your own. So if you use the notes and then sign up for online sync (free) then you have access to your notes on any computer or phone that has Opera. Of course, it syncs your bookmarks too. This is great because when I am on my linux box I fire up Opera and everything in opera is the same as the Opera on my mac and vice versa. It also has a built in email client that works really well. It is also nice that it works across all modern operating system and phones really.

Oh yeah, It is also really fast. The last beta was a little slow but this one is fast again.

It is also really easy to block adds and do different things with script add ons. Its also completely skin-able and has widgets (semi useful). The upcoming Unity feature is going to really change things too. The Unity feature will basically let you share files (music, emails) and other things with anyone running Opera. How cool is that gonna be. I dont think that is in this beta3

Anyway, I like other browsers too but for me Opera rocks.  
(Version 10.0b3)

ZX81  I keep coming back to Opera to check its progress. What I like about it : it still works with Mac OS 10.3.9 (so I can keep using my old iBook G4), it opens pages while other browsers don't (The new Deezer, for example).

The main drawback : 1Password compatibility, PLEASE!!!!!!!!!  
(Version 10.0b2)

SOUTHPAWAMI  As much as can be said for Opera 10.0b1, you can NOT run Opera 10b1 on a case-sensitive format with Leopard 10.5.7.

After much trial and error over the last year, I finally tri-partitioned my 320gb hard drive for work, games, and school. The first format was case-sensitive as it has shown me a rock like dependability that the simply journaled format doesn't have. The second the normal format so things like WoW work. The third for windows rc 7.

The case-sensitive format has a few things that show up differently

- some programs don't install or work, or work partially like Opera 10b1

- Manga Studio 3.02 EX works faster... significantly

- WoW doesn't install

- Programs appear to crash less and load slightly faster

- There are no temporary duplicate displays when working in finder (Leopard 10.5.7)

As is the standard, Omniweb just works.  
(Version 10.0b1)

SOUTHPAWAMI  Opera 10 beta is quite possibly the best browser I've used to date. As Omniweb Sneaky Peek 5.10 & Apple Safari 4, it is one of the few browsers that passes Acid 3 test. As usual with these browsers, the extra stuff causes a slower load. On my laptop(2.16 ghz, 3GB, 300GB HD 5400rpm, 950 GMA), only Safari 4 is unbearably slow in loading. Omniweb 5.10 sneaky peak is quite nice.. and loads everything well. Something like a mozilla charm, with geek like control, and an acid 3 pass. If it ran on other operating systems, it would be number one.

Opera 10 has speed dial, which is choosing many webpages as presets. Opening up Opera 10 shows the cached picture of the preset pages. Opera 10 reloads the pages much quicker than normal. Opera 9 had 9 pages as presets. Opera 10 has up to 25 pages as presets.

The loading time is slightly slower than Omniweb, but generally much faster than the first load of Safari 4. The loading time of Google Chrome is faster than any of these, though it fails Acid 3 with the Linktest. Acid 3 test is mostly an ECMA script( http://www.ecma-international.org/publications/standards/Ecma-262.htm ) test as far as I know. What it tests is general Web 2.0 ability which includes DOM, ECMA, & CSS.

Opera 10 beta runs most web pages well. Putting the tab bar on the right makes it quite nice. (Say, with a widescreen... DOCK on right... Opera maximized with tabs on right. No accidental program launches.) The personal bar is ridiculously thick, apparently the Opera team did not think to spend the time to bring to a more reasonable size such as Omniweb and Firefox/Camino features.

Opera 10 beta presently crashes on http://www.worldofwarcraft.com . Also, Opera 10 massacres http://www.mlb.com . (Why do I have to use another browser to check baseball out from mlb?) The other browsers which I've mentioned do not appear to do this. Besides, Fox Sports has a beautiful free game stat list per game via gametrax. So, while there are web pages that Opera 10 beta crashes on, the majority of them Opera 10 beta is stable with. And yes, Omniweb 5.10 Sneaky Peek is more stable than Opera 10 beta.

As for speed, only Camino 2 beta and Google chrome would satisfy. Opera 10 beta, Safari 4, Firefox 3, and Omniweb 5.10 Sneaky Peek are slow in comparison.(Though a powerful system would make everything seem the same speed) In speaking of those, Camino 2 is as fluff-less as it gets, finally getting the hint to have the 'page info' feature that Firefox has had. It's clean and fast, but without the web page presets that Opera started. (It also fails with a 72 of 100 on Acid 3)

Opera 10 also has a unique feature that is a 'why didn't i think of that?' after you start using it. The menu you get after right clicking on any web page has a 'check web page' on the very bottom, which after clicking, runs the page automatically through w3c's validation service. Besides the usefulness page info button and proper display on Firefox and Camino 2, the check web page feature is easily an amazingly simple and extraordinarily useful tool after you start using it. It puts the power of notifying the webpage maker of problems in the hands of the user. Screen shot of the results, email, tada!

Rabbit trail... why is the page info feature on Firefox and Camino 2 so ridiculously useful? Because, it allows you to see the identifying stuff in the header without looking at the code. The metas of the author, copyright, keywords, language specified, tool to create the web page, etc. Page info makes looking for this information not a chore, but an ease.

Sessions... One of the odder features in web browsers is sessions. Sessions are meant to be saving all the web pages you are on at a certain moment and even saving the size of the web browser at that same moment. By saving the session, you could conceivably go back to the session at a later time when it would be most helpful. If there are 11 websites you use for a certain part of your job, you only to load up the session that pertains to that, and all the pages in that session load at once. In my opinion, Omniweb is better at sessions than Opera is. Opera's sessions are capable, if a bit unnatural to use.

Verdict: While Omniweb Sneaky Peek 5.10 is the most useful browser at giving rights per web page in a quick and timely manner without plug-ins, Opera 10 beta is a multi-operating system(works on mac and windows) with updated speed dial, and unique check web page feature on right click. Besides the problems associated with an over thickness of the personal bar and the lack of the page info feature, Opera 10 beta is a better daily browser than any other at the moment. If all you use is macs... feel free to give the verdict to Omniweb 5.10 Sneaky Peek which excels in ways unexplainable with browsing the web.   
(Version 10.0b1)

BILL CLINTON  Opera 10b1 has a lot going for it and it mostly looks like a native Mac app considering the fakery involved. (If Apple changes the widgets, Opera will look wrong.) However, the one big new feature, thumbnail tabs (a feature that OmniWeb has had for many years) is poorly implemented, putting the thumbnails at the top (or bottom) of the scrollable window space. This is a horrible design because it forces the user to see less content and to scroll more. Vertical screen space is more valuable than horizontal screen space because content is made to be scrolled vertically, for pretty much the same reason that newspapers are printed in columns--it makes text easier to read. Opera has an option to put the tabs on the left or right sides of the window but then only the text of the site name is displayed--_no_ thumbnails!

There are lots of other little things that pop up with Opera 10b1 as you use it. But for OS X users, there will be some just for us--no Keychain integration, jerky scrolling, no Control-Command-D functionality, no spell checking in some text boxes (and it uses its own spell checker for what is checked, ignoring all of your customized spellings), and lost formatting of copied text. (All of these complaints and more apply equally to Firefox, BTW.)

All in all, Opera 10 is typical of past Opera browsers and, sadly, typical of cross-platform software generally. Just not up to Mac snuff in polish, and not integrated with the rest of the system.  
(Version 10.0b1)

ERICG  I just downloaded Opera 10 beta 1 and really liked the interface. Alas, Opera's persistent problems remain. It has all kinds of problems loading iGoogle pages properly. Many gadgets get endlessly hung up and never resolve. I also tried it out on facebook, but it had trouble getting "comments" entered. It's an improvement over the alpha, but it is still far away from Safari and Firefox with respect to everyday usability.  
(Version 10.0b1)

JOBBY  So, I applied a simple version update, and Opera reset all my preferences.

That meant that, on starting up, it reloaded all my saved pages and allowed them to set cookies, run Javascript, Java, Flash etc, EVEN THOUGH I HAD EXPLICITLY TURNED ALL OF THESE OFF.

This is supposed to be a SECURE browser? I would have been better off staying with the old version!

Opera devs, here is a list of circumstances when you may set default preferences:

1) When there is no pref file in existence because the user has never run ANY version of Opera.

2) When the user explicitly tells you to.

THAT IS ALL. If you're going to reset prefs at any other time, at least TELL THE USER YOU'VE DONE SO, and then ALLOW THEM TO SET THEM BACK *BEFORE* LOADING ANY CONTENT!

I am SERIOUSLY pissed off with Opera right now. Even Microsoft don't pull this crap.  
(Version 9.64)

BURAK  Excellent. Worth seven stars.  
(Version 9.64)

DP-G4-450GUY  "Fixed a moderately severe issue; details will be disclosed at a later date"

Excuse me ??

This is ridiculous.

What sort of guessing game are they trying to play here? How do I tell my bosses to 'hold on till a later date' on a moderately SEVERE issue, most probably relating to security?

This is very, very poor technical writing.  
(Version 9.64)

MNTBIGHKER  No 1Password support.. sorry can't use it :-( And it does have a really ugly look on the Mac.  
(Version 9.64)

LEOPOLDBLOOM  Opera is functionally very impressive, but no matter how hard I try, I can't get past its disgusting Mac interface. I'd like to give Opera a more serious spin, so I really hope the interface sees some improvement in the future. Also, I don't know how easily solvable this is, but the developers of 1Password say that Opera compatibility is impossible due to its architecture. Allowing the inclusion of such a popular add-on probably wouldn't hurt Opera's popularity on the Mac platform. For me, lack of 1Password in a browser pretty much precludes it from default use.  
(Version 9.64)

JAZZYGUY  I installed 10.0a1 I really see nothing that is an improvement over the past versions. It is just OK. It IS very unMaclike! For example zoom is no longer available in this browser by using Commandand+. That is just one instance of this browser being more a Windows thing than anything else. I have watched its progress over the years on the Mac and I am in a state of ennui and total boredom with its widgets and gadgets.  
(Version 9.63)

ORION MK. V  I'm using the 10.x Alpha version of Opera and so far it's a flawless. If you're not using any plug-ins, themes, etc. you may want to simply grab the Alpha at http://www.opera.com/browser/next/, since it has the new Presto engine.  
(Version 9.63)

MSWFUJOWDFFYC  Since version 9.5, I haven't been able to connect to the Web with Opera—I always get a "Could not find remote server" message. Any fixes?  
(Version 9.63)

MACMAN8  I am trying Opera for a while, and noticed one hitch. When trying to import bookmarks from Safari, it was going deep into Safari preferences, instead of allowing me to import the Html Safari bookmarks I periodically export to a backup folder as a precaution. When I attempt to do this with Opera 10, it won't allow it. Therefore, I'm using Opera 9.6.1 which allowed me to use my bookmark backup, and was very stable for me. Any ideas for me here?  
(Version 9.63)

O5220803  In a word "spiffy"! Still has a couple of rough edges, but no show stoppers. You should see how they've improved M2, full RTF support and rock-solid performance. Trying OP 10 as my default browser and with their new rendering engine and an Acid Score of 100/100, it's pretty tough to find any major flaws in this app; it's only their first alpha release! Give OP a try.  
(Version 10.0a1)

LEE123  I think this new version is excellent even in beta form. The addition of a spell checker makes all the difference for me as well. Opera has its own password keeper which in my opinion works as good as any other program so for me this is not a "deal breaker". I own passwd1 so I do have a good idea of the differences and still I prefer Operas wand feature. I also really like the interface. It is simple, clean and very usable. It is also totally skinable and customizable. You don't like it then change it yourself. I highly recommend this to anyone.  
(Version 10.0a1)

ROBOTANK  This latest Opera preview release is impressive in its speed and advanced standards compliance. However, even with a new major version number, they've done nothing to fix the problem of Opera's revolting interface. It's ugly and hopelessly out of place on a Mac desktop. I know that appearance is hardly the most important element of a browser, but Opera looks so awkward, cluttered, and unattractive that I simply can't bring myself to use it for very long. (Maybe they could fake a native interface like Firefox does; that would at least make it useable.) Also, a couple recent posts have mentioned 1Password support. There is a posting somewhere on Agile's forums discussing this issue, and the conclusion is that due to Opera's architecture (I can't be more specific; I'm not a programmer), 1Password support isn't possible. That's an unfortunate blow for this browser, considering 1Password's popularity.  
(Version 10.0a1)

22DUKE  same here, not much use without 1Password support  
(Version 10.0a1)

MRLEON  When 1Password works with Opera, then I might consider trying this browser.  
(Version 10.0a1)

STROB  Congradulations! First browser to pass Acid3. And lightning fast.   
(Version 10.0a1)

JAZZJOHANNES  Positive:

The 'actual standard' tests (not like Apple's cheap superficiality):

http://www.howtocreate.co.uk/browserSpeed.html#macspeed

(Opera better than Safari in more than 4 categories)

The most remarkable feature in Opera is the developer integration, specifically it's different from Safari, that it has built-in command line, threading capabilities, logs etc.

Bookmarks, forms and cookies interoperable with other browsers and platforms.

Session management is unique (not in Safari/Camino/Firefox)

Only Mac browser with integrated chat and mail viewer and newsgroup manager!!

One word: Low-bandwidth-mode!!

Native Content blocking management

AddressBook integration and notes managment

Customisation of search engines

Very specific cache management, increased security and performance.

As mentioned earlier, the best Appearance customisation on the market

Small screen for ultra-fast browsing through graphics limitation

The only browser for Mac supporting the Google Toolbar:

toolbar.google.com

It is very popular on Windows and hand-held devices...

And it passes the ACID 2 test exactly as Safari.

Negative:

- Not plainly native

- Appears a bit clustered in appearance but still efficient

(especially bad in preferences)

- Not open source

- help/documentation is only online

- see security flaw below under comments

- Icon is without doubt as mentioned, obviously real bad...

- no site-based fonts (no browser yet supports this)

Comment:

To be fair, Opera is using the standard Apple API through Qt

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qt_(toolkit)

Why market share? Apple (4% over decades?? ---> now more market share, incr. bugs and viruses??)

---> Keychain integration completely breaks cross-platform operability which is a security flaw!!

---> Keychain and Opera use TDES:

http://static.agilewebsolutions.com/1password/user_guide/encryption.html

This is not the safest encryption and crackable, GPG2/PGP is more secure

Keychain though has the biggest flaw with SHA-1 and its flaws, easily crackable by using the hashed passwords

Opera on the other hand uses 256-bit encryption of SHA-1, which is absolutely only crackable with super-ultra-computer within a time frame of light-years.

Windows and Tabs are much more native and responsive than Firefox and Safari!!  
(Version 9.62)

PROKOS_J  I was getting ready to download this and I read comments about Opera's incompatibility with 1Password. Now it's a no go for me as well.  
(Version 9.62)

LACWBO  The only reason that I am not using Opera as my preferred browser is that I cannot access my credit card information on www.citicards.com. The log in page does not accept any inputs; I therefore cannot log in.

No problem with other https:// sites I use such as Fidelity.  
(Version 9.61)

HALEAKALARI  ach... the only thing which prevents me from using opera on my mac(s) is its lack of keychain integration/support. i cannot fathom why opera doesn't have its mac team working on this, i mean, a lot of us (including myself) have hundreds of keychain entries, and there's no way i'm going to regularly use a browser unless it can read and write keychain entries... in-fact, even an importer [from keychain to wand] of some sort, would be a good step. i'm sure a lot of people would be more apt to try opera for mac, if some sort of keychain support was added.  
(Version 9.60)

JDUB800  Still a very solid browser. Fast reliable and well featured...BUT because of Opera's inability to use 1Password, it is not my daily browser - and only gets wheeled out for compatibilty checking. I think the new UI works nicely and makes a change from the Safari greyness permeating through the browser UI world - even if it's a little Vista-ish on the tabs.

Get 1Password working with Opera and I'll come back to it full time. It's a great browser with a bunch of features that you'll grow to love. For now, I love 1Password more.  
(Version 9.60)

JB4  I also use Firefox and Camino, the Gecko browsers and Opera is pretty close in, loading from the dock, speed, but for loading a page full of photos, Opera has been tested much the fastest.

As for appearance there are loads of skins...you can change the intensity and the size of the icons by grades...what more could you want and it loads the new skins five times faster than Firefox...I hate waiting for those to load....

The most given reason though for using Opera is standards...it works through literally all sites and stability...I've never had it crash....

On a personal and subjective level, the dock icon is the most striking ever used on any application...  
(Version 9.60b1)

CALL ME YO DADDY  Besides being snail slow on my relatively new MacBook, the UI is ABSOLUTELY grotesque and horrific in a Mac environment.

In light of IE 8, Google Chrome, Safari 4 which is all on the way and Trace Monkey, which is a new Java Script rendering technology in Firefox that is even faster than Google Chrome, I can't see Opera surviving for very long.

Opera STILL to this day has not even achieved a 1% market share and with the renewed browser wars in full swing, it likely never will.

It's sad because Opera use to boast it's self as being the fastest browser available but that boast has long been silenced.

R.I.P. Opera (+_ +)  
(Version 9.60b1)

O5220803  Amazingly fast, stable and secure. More Mac-like than ever before. I'm giving it a shot as my default browser. I've used OPERA for the past four years and 9.5.2 is the best to date! BTW, some of OP's features take some getting use to.  
(Version 9.52)

ZX81  9.5.2 : I had to remove this version because my mac started to behave erratically (unable to open folders, to launch apps unless using right-click/open, almost permanent beeps, etc.)

MacBook Pro, 2.16 GHZ, 10.4.11  
(Version 9.52)

22DUKE  NOT an option for me without 1Password integration.  
(Version 9.52)

HOTFREAKS  Its amazing that after all these year, Opera *still* has not figured out the Mac UI. Back to the drawing board, guys.  
(Version 9.52)

SWISHER  This is the best browser in many respects. My problem has been accessing secured sites. One site, that uses RealPLayer to stream, set in motion an auto reload of the page that could not be stopped no matter how many times I restarted Opera. I had to shut down the browser and trash "Autosave.win" found in user>library>preferences>opera preferences>sessions>autosave.win. Then all worked OK unless I try to load the site again. Many of my secure access sites that require a log-in do not work so I am forced to use Safari or Firefox. The ability to set Opera to display itself as IE, Forefox or some other is vital to me, otherwise I will be forced to refrain from using the best browser I have found yet.  
(Version 9.51)

IVANOVITCH  One other thing: it scrolls pages very badly - this should be fixed!  
(Version 9.51)

IVANOVITCH  My only criticism is that this build renders website colours badly, and doesn't handle text forms at all well (even though it claims to adhere to all standards). That, and the top menu bar is as ugly as all get-out. However, these quibbles aside, it's okay for what it offers, but unlikely to replace my other browsers of choice. It might be different for Windows users, of course.  
(Version 9.51)

ZX81  PLEASE, enable 1Password for Opera !!!  
(Version 9.51)

JDUB800  A fantastic browser with fast and well thought out features. Alas, it doesn't work with 1Password, so unfortunately, since I moved over to that, I rarely use it anymore. I still keep it on my drive though for doing small screen browser testing.  
(Version 9.51)

LEE123  I like the minimal interface it is excellent. It is also very space efficient. The speed of the new version is also very good.   
(Version 9.5)

ERICG  I believe that Opera 9.5 is an outstanding browser and I cannot understand another reviewer's comment about having problems with the application's interface. It is efficient (far more so than Firefox or Safari), useful, and beautiful. What more do you want.

But the best part of the Opera is how it compares with Safari and Firefox with respect to its highly economical use of my iMac G5 process resouces. Where Safari and Firefox use an everage of 35-45% of the computer's resources, Opera uses a minimal 3-8%. The computer runs cooler and quieter. This is a huge advantage.

Also page rendering is very fast in Opera. I would say, however, that Firefox and Safari have very slightly better standards conformance than Opera. That being said, I much prefer using Opera and will use Firefox/Safari only for those very few pages that do not render properly with Opera.  
(Version 9.5)

BILL CLINTON  The interface on this program (9.5) has _lots_ of problems with respect to Macintosh interface guidelines. I saw at least a dozen problems in four minutes of use. I had hopes that it would be better in this regard as Firefox 3 has made major advances in this area. (Still sucks, but less.)  
(Version 9.5)

CALL ME YO DADDY  Now I understand why Opera only has less than a 1% market share. Opera use to be a good browser about a year ago. This new interface has been designed to fit into the Vista environment. The native theme for the Mac is still too Window-ish.

I could live with that I suppose but Opera is no longer the fastest browser by far. That was something Opera use to be a able to boast. After installing it and using it, the speed differences between Firefox 3 and Safari was very obvious. Opera was slow and rendering some pages poorly.

What a far cry from what Opera use to be like. I guess the developers took this browser as far as they could. And if you think this is just my exclusive opinion, just visit the Opera labs blog and take a look at the comments of Opera fans. Many are not pleased with this new release.

Anyway I'm quite happy with the nightly builds of Webkit, Saft and Inquisitor plugins along with NightShift. Unlike Opera the nightly builds of Webkit are incredibly fast, stable and very polished.   
(Version 9.5)

BLACKSMITH_TB  To get the beta version, you'll want to go to Opera.com, as the Download Now links are both to the current stable version.  
(Version 9.5b2)

ORION MK. V  With the right skin, it's pretty enough and has a bevy of bells-n-whistles along with running very fast. Good "all-in-one" browser.  
(Version 9.5b2)

HANDYCAM  Might not look like a mac application, but it looks good, if you use a decent theme. I use Tango CL on both mac and windows and have a clean "platform-agnostic" look on both.

Also, after finding a good toolbars settings file I now have address bar on top, then favorites, then tabs -- like it should be IMHO.

Opera is insanely customixable, so if it doesn't look or act the way you want on first launch, you can probably fix it.

Opera is nice because it includes many of the features of my other browsers, but without add-ons. Ad blocking, site-by-site CSS files (if desired). Shortcut searches. Bookmark nicknames. Fast speed. And best of all (to me) mouse gestures.

I'd suggest trying it, and actually reading the various help files and tips on Opera.com. With a small bit of time invested, it's quite a payoff.  
(Version 9.5b2)

THEBRIX  "Doesn't look like a Mac application" - but it has come on by a mile since 9.27 and is close to being my primary browser. The bookmark synchronisation is great and even works between PC and Mac versions!

The killer, alas, is that 1Password isn't supported (and, from the Agile forums, appears to be unsupportable). Trying to get round this by installing AllBookmarks then setting Opera as primary browser fails narrowly - the Web page pointed to by the 1Password saved password entry opens correctly, but the password isn't filled in. Opera is clearly "closed" in other ways with regard to security - for one, saved passwords are held in a proprietary format (Wand), not the Keychain, which I am slightly dubious about.

Oh well, Safari remains my primary browser but Opera is now secondary ...  
(Version 9.5b2)

HELIOS9  This download appears to be identical to the previous version. Both this one and the last one have the same version number and date of modification: v9.27.3731, modified March 31,'08.  
(Version 9.5b2)

MAC ADAM  Best alt Browser to me…  
(Version 9.27)

INTELLECT INSIDE  No good...

Bad DMG. After clicking the "accept" button, the DMG didn't open. Had to go to Activity Monitor and force quit disk image helper app.

Not cool...  
(Version 9.26)

EASER  When I do a search in MacUpdate in other browsers, it will often give me several pages worth of results. I can see the page links at the bottom of the page. With Opera, I can't find those page links. But I also know it's not giving me all of the search results. Is there something I'm not setting properly? Thanks in advance.  
(Version 9.26)

M85  Been trying to uninstall all remnants of this program, but I can't figure out where part of it is - it's still listed as a possible web browser when I chose a default browser in Safari's preference pane. Help, please.  
(Version 9.25)

JON55  Wow I've been a long time Safari user and after trying out the beta I'm impressed for the most part. It's a shame it doesn't look like an OS X application. I mean for Windows it's nice, but on OS X...heh.

Implement that and make it 100% Leopard compatible and this will be THE top OS X browser.  
(Version 9.25)

MARC NOTHROP  The latest Kestrel (9.5 alphas) have greatly improved Opera's rendering and performance; it's a very respectable browser, in some areas offering greater standards support than Firefox and the fast improving WebKit. Mac compatibility is improved (now supports VoiceOver), and the interface is improving, but still not as Mac-like as it could be.  
(Version 9.5b1)

TIP  Odd. Opera won't Hide in 10.5.1, but it did with 10.5.0. Even going to the Finder and doing a "Hide Others" won't work on it.  
(Version 9.5b1)

JFM  Some real improvements with this version: now Opera opens really fast (while it used to be very slow in previous versions). Generally speaking, seems to render pages better too.

I was primarily on Omniweb, but the latest version crashes so often that, today, I decided to switch to Opera as my primary browser - first time I do that since I switched to the Mac more than 3 years ago! It tells something about Opera's improvements...  
(Version 9.5b1)

MORJOVY  since now opera has the most great and powerful features of all browsers, i love its functionality. but interface isnt nice. it is good for windows but not for macosx.

however, i have tested safari, camino, omni: all they have pure mac interfaces but poor features.

still using opera, because i cannot work without its functionality.

my request for the opera team: make it cocoa, add full leopard support, change interface to camino-like, for example (skins only arent enough)

opera is the best browser though. thanx!  
(Version 9.5b1)

VANDAL  Still... waiting.. for Kestrel (Opera 9.5), for the better OS X interface integration if nothing else.  
(Version 9.24)

TOMIS  Opera may be a great browser on Windows. But on the Mac it still feels like a bad OS9 port.

Each time I try it I hope they've gotten a clue and completely re-written the interface to use native toolbars, native widgets, and throw out the cruft. But they never do.

The rendering engine may be great, but you'd never know because the rest of the interface is a piss-poor mess. Convoluted configuration dialogs and poorly done graphics abound in Opera. It may be the norm on Windows but it's absolutely unacceptable on my Mac.  
(Version 9.23)

MACINTOSH SAUCE  I love the new version of Opera 9.22! Thanks! It is fast and not so bloated like others.  
(Version 9.22)

TOAD  Lovely, but no use to me until it can show my gmail inbox in readable form.  
(Version 9.22)

M!K3  Since Safari does not allow me to block ads, I've tried Opera. This was a good choice as a browser (BTW, its the only one I know which can render the acid2 test correctly).

Because I also had some problem with Thunderbird, I'm glad that Opera has an embedded e-mail client which is very cool - although a little bit different approach than others (view filters instead of moving messages to other folders).  
(Version 9.21)

RAY16  As a Mac user with more then browser I've always used Opera from the old 6.0 days.

I have G3 B&W running last build of 10.3.9 at the moment 500mhz, and find that 9 runs slower then Safari. whatever speedtest site one uses will tell the story.

Speed is my only issue.  
(Version 9.21)

PSLIEBER  I WANT to love Opera...but I'm not sure why it still struggles with JavaScript, Flash, select plug-ins/embedded objects.

This has all the makings of being the Mac's best browser; it still hiccups on handling of essential formats.   
(Version 9.20)

SHAAHIN  The interface is still not responsive, as it takes more than some clicks to let the user "Type" the url.

Promising features, but certainly needs a new icon.   
(Version 9.20)

O5220803  It is stable, fast and secure! A superb release of Opera for the Mac! It renders all of my pages correctly, including MSNBC and Yahoo; faster than Saf! Opera's (Transfer) Download Manager is fast, flexible and easy to use. It doesn't crash. M2 functions as advertised. Kudos to the Opera Mac Team for a truly EXCELLENT release of their Browser!

PS. SpeedDial & Widgets are rather cool!  
(Version 9.20)

O5220803  It is stable, fast and secure! A superb release of Opera for the Mac! It renders all of my pages correctly, including MSNBC and Yahoo; faster than Saf! Opera's (Transfer) Download Manager is fast, flexible and easy to use. It doesn't crash. M2 functions as advertised. Kudos to the Opera Mac Team for a truly EXCELLENT release of their Browser!

PS. SpeedDial & Widgets are rather cool!  
(Version 9.20)

XMAC  Thanks!  
(Version 9.20b1)

JFM  Good upgrade: it has solved several issues which I had with Opera on Mac for two years and had made me give up the browser completely. Preferences had disappeared from the menu (despite several reinstalls), and I had to access them via the keyboard: they are now back at the proper place (I know, it was not a common problem, but I was not the only users having it). Pages also now show properly when scrolling down, there are no longer strange problems when scrolling. So it seems Opera is improving, glad to know, it used to be my favourite browser before I switched to the Mac!  
(Version 9.20b1)

NONTROPPO  Tomis: see my link below yours to help get you the interface you suggest.

The issue is that there are lots of existing Opera users who Opera will upset if they start hacking away all the UI specificities. I am a recent OS switcher who sees no issue with Opera's UI. You can make opera *more* minimalist than safari in about 8-10 clicks.

Indeed I know of one opera user who has no address bar, no tab bar. He has *no* UI chrome, just a page! He uses option+tab to switch tabs, or the window panel linked to a mouse gesture. The window panel can be customised to accept a find box so you can "spotlight" search your open tabs (he usually has >100 tabs open); then gestures to close the panel.   
(Version 9.20b1)

TOMIS  I keep hoping they'll get a clue about proper interface design on the Mac. But they never do.

Right now Opera feels like some weird 1990s experiment in feature over-kill. With an interface to match. They need to start by just ripping off Safari's interface, and then make some really smart improvements on it.

Personally, I prefer a minimalist interface. Forward/Back and address at the top, status bar at the bottom, and tabs only when they're needed.

All the other features should be designed around making my life easier while staying out of my way. See Safari for how to accomplish this.  
(Version 9.20b1)

NONTROPPO  A very comprehensive and innovative browser, it is cross platform and so may feel a little odd, though they are slowly improving the macification with each release. The user interface is very customisable; to macify it some, see here: http://my.opera.com/dstorey/blog/show.dml/861522  
(Version 9.20b1)

GOGOGO  I think that Firefox 2 is better than Opera 9.10  
(Version 9.10)

MAC ADAM  is the one I prefer for having all we need:

•download resume

•torrent

•theme

•protect

•full screen

but it have some problems to print menu where it must ?!

a little more long than safari

and very long to lauch some time ?!

need some fix to make it the more powerfull :D  
(Version 9.10)

CITIZENVERN  Although there are some things I don't love about Opera's layout/design, I am still a regular user. It's fast, stable, super-customizable, and it's the ONLY browser i know of that doesn't encrypt its cache in some wierd file format, giving me full acces to any file that enters my cache.  
(Version 9.10)

IINDIGO  If the Opera team were to learn how to make their browser have a proper Mac GUI and move the tabs UNDER the buttonbar, it would be a nice browser. Until then though, its terrible design will keep me away from using it.  
(Version 9.10)

DETLEVSKI  Go to www.adobe.com to see the menu-items disappear behind the flashfile. So many bugreports, still not fixed. For a while Opera was my default browser, but the many Flash related issues force me to go back to FireFox, the best browser there is. I really like Opera but for me it looks like Opera has given up. Damn, it's a really fast browser   
(Version 9.10)

JELLYBEAN  I find that Opera's different(strange?) approach to configuring/using its features does NOT make it superior to other browsers.

It did take a while to figure out how to use/configure its features, but after pretty well mastering them I honestly can't say that it makes for a more efficient browser.

I also feel that Opera is rather bloated; I can live quite happily without many of its features.

But Opera is pretty fast, though. I do use Opera, but not as my default browser. Firefox is the browser that I favor.

But, I guess you can't please everyone. Different strokes, and all that.  
(Version 9.10)

VALDIMAR THOR H  Simply the best browser out there. Elegant Scandinavian craftmanship at its best.  
(Version 9.10)

NULLSET  I know that Opera's user interface can be a little confusing to a new user, but let's face it, Opera also packs a lot more punch into a very small package ... it's got an RSS reader, an email client, BitTorrent support, window sessions, widgets, not to mention user interface customization options that other browsers only dream of (for starters, I can shrink or grow user interface buttons to between 40% and 200% of their original size).

Most basic features are right on the surface, and *are* easy to use, but I've got to admit, some features -- like customizing the user interface -- are a bit harder to work than most Mac applications and are probably more difficult than they should be.

Is this a bad thing? Maybe if you spend all your time tweaking your user interface ... myself, I'd rather use Opera to get things done, and in that area Opera is spectacular. I can have literally a hundred different tabs open in Opera and it still remains stable and responsive. I personally tweak my UI settings once, but I use tabs every single day ... I'm glad that the developers chose to focus on getting tabs right instead.

Opera has never been an app for those expecting training wheels. Like TextMate, BBEdit, and Firefox (with its myriad extensions), power has a cost, and that cost is a certain amount of complexity. I have yet to run across any browser that is both powerful and non-complex. But I personally feel that the Opera devs have done a good job balancing both.  
(Version 9.10)

ISLANDMACMAN  The Opera website is indicative of their web browser - too-hip-when-it's-actually-too-cheesy. Try Camino instead.  
(Version 9.10)

SYZZYGY  I totally agree...Opera is VERY user unfriendly. It's quite unintuitive and so often mystifying when trying to use it's features.

Most other browsers, Safari, Firefox, Camino, Shiira, Flock are easy to use, but NOT Opera.

It seems that Opera's developer's have made it unnecessarly complicated.

I no longer use Opera, since I found it so exasperating.  
(Version 9.10)

MACMEND  I was so so disappointed with Opera, because in tests it seems to be the fastest browser around, and I have one complaint that is so all encompassing...it is not easy to use....

By this I mean nothing is where I expect it to be, it has alot of bells and whisltes and they do not act behave or appear in an intuitive way, or in the place i want them. So what the heck why not customise...again this is limited...fo example how do i get the address bar above the main bar....or have some of things in the main bar in the address bar.

No No and no again, this browser is so frustrating for a mac user when compared to safari, camino or firefox, I am just off to try omniweb (but.... eek that costs money).

At the end of a days experimenting with it to try and get it how I wanted I gave up...why are these people so obsessed with imposing ideas that people dont want. Its a good fast browser but what good is that if ease of use is so bad...so many search panels i didnt know what when or which to search for...Mac...its the ease of use and the GUI feel....I what dont they get about ease of use?  
(Version 9.0.2)

CHEETOHEAD  Well, I can't get DMG to open, either from here or direct from Opera site, so guess I will never know if it's as bad as others say. :-) Other DMG's work just fine.  
(Version 9.0.2)

BOB_TM  Just a few examples on problems:

- Can't display Apple Support discussion forums with CSS.

- Problems rendering themixingbowl.org torrent entries.

- Crashes at arounder.com 3D quicktime views.

- Gives incorrect warnings with eJournal

- Has rare, random crashes.

- Can't handle URL links in Outlook Web Access messages when using "open links in new tab".

- Even if memory use grows slower than Firefox, it easily ends up on 150-200 Mb resident use and does not release it properly.

These are just problems I run into daily - Firefox works well. Sorry Opera - you just don't hack it - this is barely beta quality.  
(Version 9.0.2)

BOB_TM  A pleasant experience, but not usable for me due to compatibility issues with web applications I have to use daily.

As I see it, OSX has a problem with browsers:

- Safari: Too limited functionality. A lost cause.

- Camino: Fast and nice, but minimal functionality (too little for me). This has a looong way to go.

- Firefox: Great functionality, memory hog (grabs 200MB+ res. memory after a few days with 10+ tabs) on all platforms, bloatware. On OSX also suffers from tabs and GUI becoming unresponsive and slow. I see this as a major design issue - it will not improve over night.

- Opera: Great functionality, really decent memory-wise (starts out with the same memory use as Firefox, but doesn't keep growing). Unfortunately, cannot deal well with web-forms that work in every other browser and has some other rendering issues.

I'm not optimistic about the compatibility issues being fixed soon - Opera, having been around so long and still having issues like that.... bad. Should probably spend less time developing fairly useles widget eye candy.  
(Version 9.0.2)

ATTENTIONWANDERED  Opera is a solid web browser

you guys are suggesting all these other browsers that are way better or whatever, opera is good too

it has its advangates and disadvantages

-i really like the sidebar

-with some customizing looks really cool, and works well

downside,

-it takes alot of customizing

-it takes a while turning some of the features off

i think that if this browser were simplified it would be a little better  
(Version 9.0.2)

JUKI  I've found Opera to be the most user unfriendly browser out there.......it's very unintuitive and unnecessarily complicated. Quite a vexing user experience.

Some features just don't seem to work smoothly or even work at all and I don't know if it's me or Opera. And trying to figure it out is a rather daunting task.

And as others have pointed out, it's just too bloated. I really don't want or need most of the bells and whistles.

Cumbersome is a word that readily comes to mind regarding Opera.

I just don't see any good reason to use it over most, or any, of the other browsers out there.  
(Version 9.0.2)

AMAVIDA  Man I still keep seeing glowing reviews of this browser...

I give points to the developers for making this software multiplatform, for persistance & for making it available in a low cost form... BUT...

Although I was a big fan of the all in one suite design of Mozilla in the past I question the design approach of Opera now, especially since the advent of the Mactels & Bootcamp the need for Linux & (gack) Windows machines is no longer really necessary anymore.

Mozilla take the approach of producing a rendering engine, placing a simple gui on it with a plugin architecture. The community then go nuts making all sorts of plugins that enable _THE_USER_ to easily customise Firefox to do what ever they want.

Opera is still in the old approach of all in one everthying including the kitchen sink. This may still suit some users. It makes it harder for the developers to stay on top of maintenance & gives the users flexibilty in how they use the software.

The acid test for me is rendering of pages from financial institutions and the like. This is where I still have more problems with Opera than other alternatives.

To be fair no browser is perfect but for my uses Opera is still sidelined as a 'less compatible' browser than say Safari, Firefox, Camino on the Mac Platform.

No browser is perfect. For all round multi platform use & web page compatibility Firefox is hard to beat.

On the Mac platform Safari is very good & the appearance of third party plugins that match simillar FF extensions makes it easy to choose over the non-native Firefox. Camino is is a great native port of Firefox but lacks the incredibly usefull extensions & pace of development is slow.

Opera/Omniweb/iCab etc stay in my 'problematic' basket.

If you are happy with the Mac platform & don't ever want to use anything else Safari + plugins is great. If you still must use a mixture of machines Firefox + extensions is great.  
(Version 9.0.2)

TOMIS  Safari, Camino, Firefox, iCab, Opera. In that order.

Too many features, without sane defaults. And widgets? A built in mail client? Can you say feature bloat? The rest of us learned from the Mozilla suite; all-in-one mail/web/pagebuilder programs are a BAD idea.

Instead of adding nifty new features no one cares about, they need to go back and make the interface useable. Use standard interface elements, use the MacOS X toolbars.

If they're not going to stop insulting Mac users with bad Windows interface logic, then they should get off the platform entirely. This is like someone moving to a new country and absolutely refusing to learn the language. If you don't want to be here, then don't!  
(Version 9.0.2)

JDUB800  As a Safari, then Camino user for long periods of time, Opera is less Mac-like than I'd prefer - But the sheer range of features, nice touches and developer friendly tools have made this my default browser for the past few weeks. They now just need to work on the odd stability glitch and site incompatibilty (rare) and I'll be an even happier customer...  
(Version 9.0.1)

O5220803  Bets release of Opera for the Mac yet! Works well as my default browser. The M2 mail client now works well. Kudos to the Mac Opera Team.  
(Version 9.0.1)

CA  Mixed feelings…

Much better than Opera 8.x. But does a browser really need a mail feature when we have Mail.app, which is excellent? The BitTorrent support is a weird idea. (I haven't tested this feature.) But it's very stable.

That said, I now use it as my second browser when Safari is unstable. Which happens very often :P

Ugly tool bar though.  
(Version 9.0)

MILE  Improved and yet useless -- at least for me, that is! It still doesn't support WYSIWYG editing on many blog systems that I use, only offers me like 1/3 of the options available...!? It doesn't work with the new Yahoo! Mail and even though that's probably a glitch on Yahoo!'s side, it's a problem for me...! It still doesn't autocomplete URLs, still shows some weird behaviour with some websites, the interface is still as cluttered as it used to be...and so on...

I just want a good reliable fast working web browser -- not a universal net app that's trying to implement BitTorrent and Mail and RSS and...now Widgets...!?! Well, and from my point of view it's not really that much faster than the other browsers anyway...

So Safari still is my favourite and as much as I'd like to use it primarily, I'm stuck with that stupid FireFox for the sakes of some compatibility issues...! And Opera is no alternative either, not even with this new 9.0 release...too bad...!  
(Version 9.0)

DOWNWINDZ  I've tried many versions of Opera and even paid for it back in the day. I think it has a lot of promise, but it still needs a lot of improvements. I want a better option other than Safari, Firefox or Omniweb! Come on OPERA!!!!!  
(Version 9.0)

GARYI  Just seems to get more and more kludgy this app, the tool bars are a mess and the widgets work for a while then disintegrate.   
(Version 9.0)

RAZZ  Opera is very snappy. It loads in about the same time as Safari and it seems to render pages slightly more quickly.

There is a huge problem when running Java programs at Yahoo.com. DO NOT USE OPERA for playing games at Yahoo. It is aweful. Activity in windows stops. You appear to other players to have disappeared. You can't complete play sometimes and if you check another player's profile, you are done for.

I strongly recommend Shiira as an alternative to Safari. Shiira is very fast and it handles everything I've thrown at it.  
(Version 9.0)

ORION MK. V  Betas were solid, so it's great to see this awesome, feature-packed browser continue. Wonderfully multi-platform friendly, much like FireFox is.  
(Version 9.0)

O5220803  Amazingly fast and rock-solid stable. Opera has come a long way in addressing the needs of the Mac community and this release of their browser proves it. Renders very well! Nice work Opera!  
(Version 9.0)

ST00P!D M0NK3Y  Sorry, but this just doesn't seem as stable as Camino. And with CamiTools, I don't really want to use anything else.

However, Safari seems to load flash animations the fastest. But that doesn't bother me. I've never seen a better Ad Blocker than what Camino offers.

Opera isn't very stable (even the stable release) and it's just so finicky. It doesn't feel solid at all and no matter how many times I try to CONVERT to Opera or any other browser, I keep finding my way back to Camino. Also, Opera doesn't load many of my most frequented websites correctly, like Gmail. I can't use a browser that doesn't allow me to use Rich Text Format in my e-mail. It's just silly.

Overall, Opera is decent, but it as a LONG way to go before I even consider making a switch. Right now it's just not for me.  
(Version 9.0b2)

SZABESZ  This IS the fastest, I can tell you. I am on an aging 800MHz iMac, I know what a fast application means. This IS the fastest. I have tested it on complex and very long HTML pages. It renders them much faster, a lot faster than al the others.

And it even CAN pause the Flash plug-in. Other browsers, including Safari, keep running swf files even after hiding them, consuming a lot of processor power. My 800MHz iMac keeps struggling with other browsers. But this is not the case with Opera. I hide Opera, and I get back my processor. It is simple as that. This is the fastest. Thank you for the developers.

(And the e-mail client seems to be promising too. I have just started to evaluate it)  
(Version 9.0b1)

LUX  Shiira is THE browser - cleaner, more stylish and faster than Opera, Safari, Camino or Firefox.  
(Version 9.0b1)

O5220803  Surprisingly good and complete for a beta release. After start-up, Opera 9 is "blazingly" fast! Nice work, Mac-Opera Team.   
(Version 9.0b1)

JOBBY  Surely when you upgrade to a new version it should reload your saved tabs from the old version, rather than throwing the entire session away and displaying a 'welcome to Opera' page instead?

Thanks a lot. Now I have to pick through the History to try and find what I had open. Please fix this extremely annoying bug!  
(Version 9.0pre2)

PSLIEBER  Far more stable than their 'stable' version, a much better product than previous iterations. Truth be told, I [actually] abandoned my formerly favorite browser (I'm a paying, Opera customer from version 6) for a good 1.5 year's time due to its bugginess and random crashes. Not sure, however, about the functionality of the Widgets in 9. This is to be expected in a Pre-Release.

I'm tired of Safari crashing and the temperament of Camino. I likewise won't spring for OmniWeb. This seems to be THE browser to beat at the present.  
(Version 9.0pre2)

HAL2007  You've got me addicted, Opera! I'm stunned by your richness of features. And I even find you beautiful when you're wearing your plastic-opera gown, even if you're beta status yet. For me, you're almost final! :-D  
(Version 9.0pre2)

TOMIS  * No sense of proper interface design. Even Firefox feels more natural than this thing, and that's a sad statement. Skinning was a bad idea back in the days of Mozilla. Get with the time and just use native widgets with native actions.

* Too many nitty-picky features that don't matter. They bog down the experience in a twisted maze of options.

It has a couple innovative ideas. I like the ability to zoom all objects on the page, not just text.

Unfortunately, the interface is so horrible. It distracts from any superiority the rendering engine could possibly have over other browsers.

Back to Safari for me...  
(Version 9.0pre2)

APPLECRYPT MODS  camino is still my main browser, but Opera is stunningly good and i'm considering switching..

But i only have the one "problem" with Opera - it takes soooo darn lonnnnng to starrrrt up!

I've a G5 with RAID 0 and it seems to churn away like crazy when loading - takes about 3x longer to load than camino or OmniWeb! WTF??? :/  
(Version 9.0pre2)

RAY16  As a long time Opera user, Opera 9 is fine. I was concerned about the email warning window, but once I saw that everything fine I relaxed. Now that Opera is free, thats even better.  
(Version 9.0pre2)

A NONY MOUSE  I admit that Opera IS a fine browser. It's stable, feature rich and blazingly fast.

But we're at version 8.5.1 and I still have those nasty redraw errors that render it unusable: After a while using Opera, I'd like to scroll down a page, the page content gets repeated line-wise. In the end, my browser window looks like a modern art painting. As soon as I restart Opera, the problems gone for only to reappear after some minutes.

That annoys me so much that I can't use Opera right now.  
(Version 8.5.2173)

HECTOROS  crashless so far and extracts bookmark's descriptions! I stayed away from Opera for a while. It wasn't that fast before, often froze and the UI was cluttery (still a bit). This newer version is impressive. I have all the other browsers and this one is probably the most secured, faster and best in bookmarks. As far as I know, the only one that extracts the URL, TITLE and DESCRIPTION (when available) metatags automaticaly when adding a bookmark. And so far I haven't been able to find an addon or software for a Mac that automatically extracts the description from an URL. It is the most efficient way to recognize long saved bookmarks.  
(Version 8.5.2173)

ANONYMOUS  Excellent piece of software. Fast & free!  
(Version 8.5.2173)

GARY  I have used Safari for years and liked it. But recently it began freezing on Yahoo pages containing Flash ads (I think having to do with PithHelmet issues--when I disabled PH, Safari was okay). Still, I tried Opera 8.5, and it is much faster than Safari on my trusty old Ti667. Lots of the annoying bugs, rough edges, and rendering problems seem to have been fixed and now it's free. I figure as long as I have to look at the ads, I might as well use the fastest browser I can find.  
(Version 8.5.2173)

STEVE  wow i was amazed by how much this had come on since i last tried it. Very excellent piece of s/w and now free too. Great stuff + now i'm considering replacing Safari as it's that good.

If u havn't tried it in a few months - then download it again and get this installed. Love it!!  
(Version 8.5.2173)

ANONYMOUS  I've used safari, firefox, and camino and opera, but I keep coming back to opera now. Safari was slow for me, firefox was also slow, and I liked camino but it was a but short on features. I tried opera in the past and didn't like it, but this new 8.5 versions runs really well and has all the features I was using for firefox built in. Take a while to customize the toolsbars to resemble firefox and it's quite nice to use. I'm sticking with it, at least for a while...  
(Version 8.5.2173)

FAKEARNOLD  Much like firefox. It does not belong on mac os x. Don't waste your time.  
(Version 8.5.2173)

ANONYMOUS  5 stars for being the best browser on the market. You can turn off all the "useless" features and make it just as lightweight as Safari. But unlike Safari, you can manage bookmarks and history, and it doesn't crash ten times a day. Take 10 minutes to figure it out and you find the best browsingexperience there is.  
(Version 8.5.2173)

TOMIS  Still has a kludgy interface with too many settings that don't matter, and not enough that do.

They're obviously trying desperately to fit into the MacOS X interface design ethic, and failing miserably.

Fact of the matter is, any browser these days is competing with Safari. If it doesn't improve on Safari's slick interface, then it's a waste of time.

Perhaps like Firefox this is a great browser on Windows, but I'm not on windows, and I don't care if it's great on it. MacOS X apps should act like MacOS X apps, that means using standard toolbars and other controls, and using clean to-the-point interfaces, not one jammed with tons of useless features.

I want to appreciate that they've even bothered to recognize the Mac market, but I take offense to the fact that it's just a bad PC port.  
(Version 8.5.2173)

THEBRIX  In my view, some of the features (particularly tab handling, privacy protection and the Wand, at least in principle) are well implemented and hard to beat elsewhere; the inbuilt mail/news/RSS reader is also surprisingly good, and the page rendering is better than Safari's - I find far fewer misbehaving sites with Opera. That it "doesn't look like a Mac application" is irrelevant; the generic user interface doesn't stick out in normal operation.

Unfortunately, this good work is all rather negated by the Wand being buggy (reported to Opera); saving passwords for N email accounts results in the Wand unlock password being asked for N times on first receiving mail and, if this is done before any other passwords are asked, Opera usually locks up; I have had other Wand-related crashes.  
(Version 8.5.2173)

ANONYMOUS  Not as good as Safari and Firefox. Now that it is free, worth the try.

The Sofa King theme is great, looks like Safari.  
(Version 8.5.2173)

MICHAEL WAYNE (LONDON)  I have always liked Opera but really stuck with OmniWeb but since the last few releases of Camino I have stuck with Camino. When I saw Opera is free I decided to give it a go and have loaded and removed it 3 times and still have the same issue which makes it a little unusable.

I go to the BTYahoo mail portal and once I try to log in to check mails, it tells me that I need to download IE or Netscape. If I change the spoofing agent to Opera still no go, change it back to IE and still no go.

All other browsers have many different browsers to choose to spoof. Just look at Camino with CamiOptions.

Once this is rectified in Opera I'll start using it.

Of course this leaves OmniWeb as the last 'Pay For" browser and as I understand they may change the core system they use.

Come on Opera, get these little things sorted and you will have a winner big time on you hands.   
(Version 8.5.2173)

MATT  This is a very nice browser. In fact, the combo of this browser with it's built in mail client is the second best browser and mail client I have ever used. They just aren't as good as firefox and thunderbird, so I have no reason to switch.   
(Version 8.5.2173)

ANONYMOUS  Well, I was using Camino (vers. 1.oa optimized for my G5 iMac), and than I tried Opera 8.5 - and it's now my main browser (and email and RSS client).

The thing with Opera is that you must play with it for a while: everything is customizable, the UI is very snappy, and it loads sites as faster (if not faster sometimes) than Camino on my machine.

I think it,s a very good and light browser - for all the fatures it has, it consumes very little RAM!

Just try it - I think that Opera is a "love or hate" experience...  
(Version 8.5.2173)

PETE  I do NOT see OPERA being fast but definitely is very SOLID ! I like this software for it's complexity but in same time very intuitive approach based on logic.......... very appealing ! I am registered owner.  
(Version 8.5.2173)

ANONYMOUS  i switched from annoying explorer 2.5-3 years back as PC user and i did try different ones

and even after moving to Mac i'm still using Opera

one of the best and the fastest, i like it  
(Version 8.5.2173)

3818  I am a registered Opera user. This latest version of OPERA for the MAC is by far the best yet from Opera Software. Fast, stable and secure: it gives the other browsers for the Mac "a (real) run for their money"! Use this browser with its 'Odyssey" skin and you'll have a very acceptable GUI for the Mac. OP 8.5 is a solid, complete, and well authored application suite (it even includes M2 e-mail). A good choice for a Mac-based SOHO environment. AND...it's now FREE! Give it a try! Enjoy!  
(Version 8.5.2173)

ANONYMOUS  You know, I've been playing around with Opera all day and I really like it. It has an incredible feature set and it's fast. I could see this becoming a regular-use browser for me.  
(Version 8.5.2173)

ANONYMOUS  I love this browser! Except for its RSS feed reader, it is great.

One note to all of you complaining about how bad it looks.

Check out: www.demuths.de/iopera/

Make opera look virtually like any other OS X browser.   
(Version 8.5.2173)

TOURNESOL  The interface is not as clean as Safari, but it renders many pages that Safari f.... up. Great alternative, that I will keep next to Safari.

AND NOW ITS FREE! :D  
(Version 8.5.2173)

ANONYMOUS  Opera was the first browser I have used on windows alternative to internet explorer, now its become free, its great browser but like Firefox it doesn't have OSX widgets (buttons, highlights) are terrible, if they correct those widgets and add feature to zoom button to fit the content of the web page instead of filling screen like on windows also making toolbars more customizable like drag dropping, when these features in Opera it will become my default browser  
(Version 8.5.2173)

KEARNEY ADAMS  I've never posted a review before but, this time, I feel I must.

Opera is the best browser out there for the Mac, PERIOD.

I was a diehard Safari user until I dug deeper into the inner workings of this program.

Recently, Opera celebrated an anniversary and was giving away free passwords for this program over a 24-hour period. I obtained the password and took it out for a spin.

I found a tutorial on the web called "30 days to becoming an Opera Lover" that really opened my eyes. Although it's geared towards Windows users and some features aren't in the Mac version, it will give you an idea of what Opera can really do.

Opera has features like 'Mouse Gestures', which, when clicking the right mouse button and dragging left, pushes the back button. Right clicking and dragging right pushes the forward button.

It's so smart that right clicking and dragging to the right will take you to the next logical page, even if you've not been there (next, at the bottom of a goggle search, for example).

Plus it has a 'Notes' feature, which lets you save text as a note. Your notes can be seen in a Panels bar on the left. You can create folders to further organize your notes if you like. Double clicking any note will reload the original page.

The Panels bar can be opened or closed at any time. It can be totally customized to whatever look or content you like.

One feature on the Panels bar is called 'Links'. This displays any web page's hyperlinks from top to bottom, making for easy selection of links.

You can give each bookmark a 'shortcut' which, when entered into the address bar, loads that bookmark's page (mu = MacUpdate, for example). Folders can even be given a 'shortcut' and their entire contents will load in separate tabs upon entering it in the address bar.

Searching can be done from the Panels bar, but instead of only having one choice, the standard configuration gives you 8 search engines to choose from. More search engines can be added at any time by simply dragging them to the bar. (I just added Altavista)

There are numerous skins out there for Opera, including some that will make it look like Safari. Every toolbar’s appearance can be altered until you find a look you like.

The bottom line, at least for me, is how well does it perform.

It is equal to or faster than Safari in most cases.

It is extremely easy to turn JavaScript off, which, in my opinion, makes surfing faster on any machine.

In Safari you must bring up the preferences dialog, then select ‘Security’ and toggle the JavaScript button to turn it off,

In Opera, selecting the 'Quick Preferences’ menu lets you select the JavaScript option without having to go to a dialog box.

This is just a few of the many features that Opera has.

In my opinion, it's so good, it's worth paying for (no, I'm not getting a kickback from the company)

It's not perfect and has a few bugs, but not enough to be problematic. Give it a try and dig a little deeper is all I'm saying.

You might find you like it.  
(Version 8.0.2)

BILL B  I agree with Alo. Ugly. Doesn't render Salon well. I'll stick with Camino.  
(Version 8.0.2)

ALO  I've tired the free reg for the 10th anniversary, it works. Then, what's better than Safari II or Firefox? The interface is ugly and the new themes are... burk! they look like awful Linux / Window$ themes. Speed is good, not better than Safari, so what? Opera seems stable, that's a good point, but Safari and Firefox are also rock solid. Maybe a good alternative for PC stuff lovers, but I won't use this thing on my nice Mac.  
(Version 8.0.2)

PAOLO  The best, period. Very useful addons but sometimes just a little complicated to be customized. Few people don't like Opera 'cause they don't know it! If you discover all its features, you'll never use another browser anymore.  
(Version 8.0.2)

ANONYMOUS  Opera celebrates, get a free reg number here http://my.opera.com/community/party/reg.dml only a few hours left!  
(Version 8.0.2)

:: MILE ::  A great browser and the first one to actually make me consider switching from Safari...! Give it a try, check out the features and you will have a great browsing experience...! At least I do... ;-)  
(Version 8.0.2)

MOLDARIN  Opera is everythink you need on a day-to-day basis on the web. A first class web browser, a fine email client, an IM client, personal notes and a addressbook.

Best standard-ownly reader that's available.  
(Version 8.0.1)

A NONY MOUSE  Browser with great potential. Very complicated indeed, yet powerful. Faster page rendering than Safari. UI is very PC-like, but can be skinned, that's a nice addition.

I would use it as my main browser, if it wouldn't make some severe redraw errors sometimes. If you scroll down a page, things on the page get duplicated forever. This is quite annoying.

I'll keep watching this product.  
(Version 8.0.1)

SNOWDOG  Works better than safari on my old G3 mt.I don't find the features to be overwehlming,I just use what I want.Think I'll keep it around.  
(Version 8.0.1)

SHOCKED AND, AWED, AND UNIMPRESSED  Yep.

This thing is as complicated as Photoshop!

It's amazing that it's as fast as it is in spite of it's burden of trappings.

(The speed isn't what it's cracked up to be. It renders the basic page layout like lightening so it seems super quick. Then you wait around about as long as other browsers for the graphics to arrive.)

Butt-ugly UI.

Give me something with the OS integration and elegance of Camino, the speed of Safari, a set of prefs somewhere in the middle, and a slick built-in ad blocker!  
(Version 8.0.1)

FLARCH  Holy Crap!

Tons of bells and whistles!

In fact, it's more a bell and whistle repository than a browser. There's such a thing as too much customizeability.

I'm looking for something to easily browse the web and perhaps clean it up a bit. This is like some early windoze software with so many choices you need a 2 inch thick manual just to figure out what you do and don't need or want and how to configure it.

There's very little discernable rhyme or reason to the ghastly layout and the myriads of buttons and panes, and tabs! I was sick of looking at the thing by the time i made a cursory trip through the various prefs and settings.

A Mac program should NOT be this CLUTTERED!

While there are some prefs and features i liked right away and it seems fast this bewildering mess is by no stretch worth $40 more to me than Camino, Firefox, or Safari! And having obligatory ads instead of an ad blocker, this just adds to the noise of the Web.

Like a day old corpse in a hothouse, this thing is repugnantly bloated: antithetical to the elegance that is Macintosh!  
(Version 8.0.1)

ANONYMOUS  It's in the details where Opera excels. In my case, I just love the full and fit to screen features.

Also, the fact that you can customize the interface to look "natively" in Finder. Awesome.

Lastly, like others have said, the page rendering is good and fast. Thanks Opera.  
(Version 8.0.1)

F.ELZ  Great web browser. full of features and fast, very fast on my DSL connection. Runs faster on my old g3 ibook than Safari in opening tabs and resizing windows.   
(Version 8.0.1)

DM  Opera is by far the fastest browser for me over my Direcway satellite link, especially on downloading https pages -- more than twice as fast as anything else. Yes, the interface is clunky, but performance is fine and it works on some sites that Safari does not work on. I use it instead of Safari when doing secure stuff....  
(Version 8.0.1)

GREGORY MERKEL  It's fast'easy to use'knocks Safari out of the when comes to speed downloading'especially downloading mail and surfing the net.GreM  
(Version 8.0.1)

ANONYMOUS  FAST ???  
(Version 8.0.1)

ANONYMOUS  While I welcome more alternatives, the interface of this browser seems pretty cumbersome. Beyond Safari and the Mozilla-based browsers, iCab is my favorite. With beta 3 now available it brings support for modern standards along with many useful features. There is an OS 8.5-9.2 version in addition to the OS X version making it the ONLY modern browser available for older Macs. Since many of them are fast enough for decent browsing that's a very welcome thing.  
(Version 8.0.1)

LORD LIGHTNING  If ever I've seen a Wintel app ported to Mac, this is it. There are 7 toolbars. Two would do the job. The preferences are not intuitive as we expect on a Mac. This definitely demands that you read HELP - http://help.opera.com/Mac/8.01/en/index.html.

It's a 'try once and forget' application. Why would you choose this over OmniWeb if you want to pay for commercial version of Safari. I guarantee that most folks will never use it after the first attempt.

If you need all the stuff Opera has, use Mozilla instead, at least it zings along, its dead reliable, it is Mac intuitive and its FREE.

Just not worth the download!  
(Version 8.0.1)

ANONYMOUS  Looks pretty good - except for the banner. Sorry, it is just not worth $40 to remove it. $10 max if and only if it was proven to be superior to the other free alternatives out there. That's a $30 marketing bobo.   
(Version 8.0.1)

MATREYA  I'm sorry, but why would ANYONE want to use this over Firefox or Safari is beyond me.

It handles many websites poorly by comparison.  
(Version 8.0.1)

NEVROZEL  Great product! More features than Safari! VERY fast! Try it!  
(Version 8.0.1)