Archive
Opera, on a wall near you
Now you can find the Opera browser on computer wall pads too. Kocom, a Korean company, will use the Opera browser on its wall pads to display webpages (see picture below). The wall pads are used to display information and announcements – it will be done through webpages.
Not only does it use Opera to display webpages, it also uses the browser for the user interface (UI) design, meaning the display and menu options are really just a bunch webpages (behind the scenes), which means it could be updated as quickly and easily as a Web page.
What percentage of known security bugs in browsers are actually fixed?
Well, if you’re using the Opera browser, then 100 percent of the reported security bugs/vulnerabilities were fixed. In fact, Opera is the only browser (among the big ones – Internet Explorer (IE), Firefox, and Safari) to have patched 100% of its known security bugs, according to Secunia, a site that tracks security vulnerabilities in various applications.
Ben Buchanan, on his blog, wrote about this a couple days ago. He compared the patch rate on security bugs in the four major browsers (IE, Opera, Firefox, and Safari).
Browser patches between Feb 2003 and Jan 2007:
- IE6 – 67% patched (out of 110 reported bugs).
- IE7 – 25% patched (out of 4 reported bugs).
- Firefox 1 – 87% patched (out of 39 reported bugs).
- Firefox 2 – 50% patched (out of 4 reported bugs).
- Opera 8 – 100% patched (out of 15 reported bugs).
- Opera 9 – 100% patched (out of 3 reported bugs).
- Safari 1 – 93% patched (out of 15 reported bugs).
- Safari 2 – 33% patched (out of 6 reported bugs).
Here are some snippets from the blog’s conclusion:
“Well, one clear thing is that Opera is the only vendor with a 100% patch record according to Secunia. Opera is also the only vendor that maintained its patch rate between versions – in fact you have to go back to Opera 6 to find an unpatched advisory (and there’s only one).”
“So at this time Opera wins the patch stakes. The argument can be made that Opera attracts fewer attacks due to small marketshare. That could be true – there’s no way to truly know, since malicious hackers aren’t polled – but when I’m doing my banking I don’t care if it’s true. I just care that my browser is secure; and Opera currently has the best record for fixing security issues.”
These results clearly show how Opera has its foot on security. The big question is, however, whether Opera users are updating their browsers with the newest security patches.
Most of the people who visit Opera Watch use the latest versions of Opera — some, like myself, even use the latest weekly builds of the browser. (If you haven’t noticed yet, you can see for yourself which browsers people use to comment on the blog posts here.) But obviously the Opera users who visit my blog don’t represent the typical Opera user. Most of the visitors here are tech savvy and stay updated with Opera news. What about the millions of other Opera users who don’t read Opera Watch? 🙂
Last year Opera added the functionality to the browser to alert the user of a newer available version (yes, Opera had it before Firefox did). This was a step in the right direction, but as I’ve mentioned many times before, there’s much more that needs to be done.
I would like to see an Update Manager in the browser (Read: Where is Opera’s Update Manager?), where it will automatically download and install (with the user’s consent) all updates, just like Microsoft does with Windows Update. Firefox already has this; I wish we would too.
It would make it much easier for non-savvy computer users to upgrade Opera. In addition to that, I bet many of you would have an easier time telling your non-techie friends to install Opera, if you knew the updates would be done automatically. This is something that has been bothering me for some time already.
Last year I installed Opera on my grandmother’s computer, she recently told me about the window that keeps on popping up every so often telling her an update to Opera is available. She always clicks “no” to the question of whether she should “manually” download the update. Had there been an option in Opera to auto-update, I would have done that for her – she wouldn’t even know that Opera is updating.
If you’re not using the latest version, what are you waiting for? Get the latest version of Opera. Now!
(Tip: To check whether you’re using the latest and greatest version of Opera, in the menu bar click on ‘Help’ and then click on “Check for updates”.)
Which browser scales images the best?
Ryan from the CyberNet blog had an interesting post last week where he looked at how Opera, Internet Explorer 7 (IE7), Firefox 2, and Firefox 3 handle the scaling of images.
Read the test results for yourself. Here’s a snippet from the conclusion:
“The point that I wanted to make was that Firefox 3’s Cairo rendering engine will make more of a difference than you think, and that Opera also does a truly amazing job scaling images.”
I’m not sure if it’s just me (cause I’m biased toward my most favorite browser) or it’s a fact, but I’ve noticed so many times how Opera displays images with crispy clear edges, while IE (and sometimes Firefox) shows rough edges on certain images (use this image as an example). It always impressed me how good Opera’s image rendering engine is. I guess it’s gotta to be good, if the Opera browser needs to scale down images for small screens on mobile phones.
Visit with Opera in New York City
Do you live in the New York City / Northern New Jersey area? If so, come out and join us for some food and drinks this Tuesday evening (January 30th) in Manhattan.
I’ll be there along with Opera’s Chief Standards Officer Charles “Chaals” McCathieNevile, and I hope you’ll be there too.
If you’re an Opera user, no matter how much or little you know about the browser, this user group meeting can help you learn more about Opera, in addition to having the chance of meeting other people who share your passion.
This meetup is not exclusively for Opera browser users; Internet Explorer (IE), Firefox, Safari, Netscape, Flock, and Links browser users are welcome too. The more the merrier.
We will be meeting at the PS 450 lounge/bar in Manhattan’s Murray Hill. It’s easily accessible by subway train. I’ll be driving in from Passaic, New Jersey.
This get-together is listed on upcoming.org, an excellent site to find events in your neighborhood.
Time: 6:30PM to 8:30PM.
Location: The PS 450 lounge/bar. Located at 450 Park Avenue South Between 30th & 31st Streets (Map and directions here).
Transportation: By subway, take the 28th Street stop on the number 6 train and walk north for two blocks.
Bring your friends too, don’t come alone. Looking forward to seeing you there. 🙂
Some interesting Opera Mini facts
Here are some facts you may find interesting about Opera Mini’s global usage:
- Brunei Darussalam has the world’s greatest penetration of Opera Mini users per capita.
- Sudan, the Maldives, Cote d’Ivoire and Bangladesh have the highest concentration of Opera Mini users per mobile phone.
- If you are in the U.S., you most likely run Opera Mini on a Motorola RAZR V3, BlackBerry Pearl or BlackBerry 8700.
- If you are in the U.K., you most likely run Opera Mini on a Sony Ericsson K800i, Sony Ericsson K750i or BlackBerry 8700.
- If you are in Russia, you most likely run Opera Mini on a Sony Ericsson K750i, Nokia 6230i or Sony Ericsson K700i.
- If you are in Germany, you most likely run Opera Mini on a Sony Ericsson K800i, Sony Ericsson K610i or Sony Ericsson P990i.
My 2 cents: The reason why Opera Mini is so popular in the states and countries mentioned above is probably due to the fact that these are poor areas (most, at least), and many can’t afford to buy a PC computer. Opera Mini is, for them, the main method for browsing the web.
Opera Mini developer chat
The first part of the Opera Mini developer chat was just posted on the Opera Mini team blog. Got any questions for the Opera Mini team? Post them here.
Want an Opera wrist strap? Send Opera Mini a birthday greeting
In occasion of Opera Mini’s first birthday, Opera is giving out Opera wrist straps to the first 1,000 people who submit a birthday greeting card (email).
Have an idea for an original birthday greeting card? Send it to Opera (birthday@opera.com)! Be it a couple words, image, song or a video. The top 5 submissions will be posted on the birthday page. Your email should include:
- Your name
- Full address
- The greeting
Opera problems on Windows Vista?
In today’s Personal Tech column in the USA Today, columnist Edward Baig mentioned some problems he ran into while using the Opera browser on the new Windows Vista.
“When I ran the Opera Web browser, the “color scheme” was temporarily downgraded to Vista Basic, something repeated when I launched the InterVideo WinDVD program.”
I’m not familiar with the development details of Opera for Vista, but I recall that in mid-August a team from Opera visited Microsoft to make sure Opera will work well on Windows Vista. I hope they fix this issue before Vista is released.
Have any of you, Vista users, encountered similar issues?
Edit: I’ve spoken with Opera’s Desktop QA head about this issue. Opera was aware of this issue even before the USA Today mentioned it; however he said it’s not a bug or problem with the Opera browser, but rather an issue with Java. This problem can be duplicated with other programs too, as the USA Today already pointed out.
PC World says Opera is safer than either Internet Explorer or Firefox
In a recent issue of PC World magazine columnist Scott Spanbauer wrote about the importance of staying safe online while browsing. Here is what he had to say about the Opera browser:
“While no software is perfectly secure, many experts (including me) think the Opera browser is safer than either IE or Firefox.”
To be fair, it sounds like he’s basing it on the fact that Opera has a small market share, and thus malware authors aren’t targeting it yet.
Opera Mini turns one year old; 10 million active users; Birthday party tomorrow
Welcome Digg users. If you haven’t tried Opera Mini yet, give it a test run, it will most likely change your mobile browsing habits – it’s easy and free. On your mobile phone, go to www.operamini.com to install.
Congratulations the one year old Opera Mini!!
The Opera Mini Team just posted about its one year anniversary/birthday. A year ago yesterday, Opera launched its new baby, Opera Mini.
Opera Mini is different
I hate using buzz words such as “revolutionized”, but that’s what Opera Mini did. With most traditional browsers on low to mid level mobile phones you only had a WAP browser, which meant you could just browse websites that were specifically designed for mobile phones. With Opera Mini, however, you could browse nearly all websites, from Gmail and Bloglines to MySpace and eBay. Everyone is using Opera Mini, even dolphins.
Tease… Tease…
In the coming months Opera will further revolutionize mobile browsing with Opera Mini; it will make it much easier to browse — I’m dying to talk more about it, but for now I’ll just have to keep it to myself.
10 million Opera Mini users worldwide
In the short 12 months of its existence, Opera Mini has amassed more than 10 million (that’s 10,000,000) active users. I don’t know what percentage of it came by word of mouth, but I assume it’s a big one. Opera did virtually no advertising for it, yet it managed to get a strong foothold in the mobile browsing market. If you make a good product, it will sell itself. In our case it was our happy Opera Mini users who spread the word.
The fact that Opera Mini is free and very easy to install (by going to http://www.operamini.com), no doubt made it easier for our users to spread the Opera Mini word.
Distribution of Opera Mini
Over the past year Opera has also struck deals with countless content providers to provide custom, branded versions of Opera Mini, such as with eBay Germany and a special version for NFL and NCAA sports fans (by 4INFO).
Opera Mini is also being pre-installed by some handset manufactures (Samsung) and mobile phone carriers/operators, such as T-Mobile and Telefonica. These deals were huge for Opera.
Birthday tomorrow
In honor of Opera Mini’s first birthday, Opera will be hosting a virtual birthday party at www.operamini.com/bday.
Opera Mini Developer Chat
If you have any questions about Opera Mini that has been irking you, now is your chance. There will be an Opera Mini developer chat tomorrow; you could submit your questions already now in the comments of the Opera Mini team blog. You’ll also have a chance to win some Opera goodies.
Thanks
In closing I would like to thank the Opera Mini team for this great browser; I use it all the time. And let’s not forget each and every one of you, the 10 million users who’ve installed it – thanks. If not for you, there would be no point in continuing the development of Opera Mini. And finally, to all who helped spread the word of Opera Mini – a big thanks.
—
Additional Opera Mini links
Opera Watch 
You must be logged in to post a comment.