grelmar - 6:17 am on Sep 22, 2005 (gmt 0)

This may just be because this is the wrong day for me to be trying new software, (tired, burnt out, ornery, curmudgeonly, seriously not looking forward to finishing eight more days in a 14 day straight work schedule...) - but Opera just didn't give me that first glance "Wow" that made me want to switch from FF.

For one, I've heavily customized FF to the way I browse. Sure, Opera may have the ability to be customized to the same level, but do I really want to put the effort into it? After putting 2 solid years into using FF and modding it to my needs?

I need a good reason to switch, and nothing is jumping up and grabbing me.

Will I use Opera? Yes, in the same way I've been using opera for a while. To test out pages for compatibility. The ad-supported version used to work just fine for that. But nothing about the ad-supported version made me want to rush out and drop a dime to pay for it. Now that it doesn't have ads, it is merely less annoying to compatibility test pages with.

Will I recommend it to others?

Probably. I've turned a lot of people onto FF over the past year, and it's had a ripple effect. Many, if not most, of the people who I've switched over to FF, have gone on to get others to change. I'll now add Opera to my list of recommendations for people who are sick to death of IE security issues. "Try FF or Opera - they're both free and really great browsers. Just take the one you like best."

Do I think Opera will gain market share in the same way FF did? Not likely. Opera will be a distant third to IE and FF for months, if not years, to come. IE will continue to dominate, FF will be the perpetual underdog contender, and Opera will be the whispered about dark horse in the corner. IMHO, of course ;)

A note on security through obscurity:

If it works, work it. IE is the big flaming target in a neon skirt, and will remain so as long as it remains the dominant browser. Malware writers will go for market share every time.

If, eventually, we were to see an even split between 3 browsers, we would see an overall increase in web security. Any given malware would only be able to take 1/3 of the market, and thus have a greatly reduced impact. The only difference would be in malware that was browser independant, and would attack something all the browsers have in common. J2RE comes to mind, as MS phases out its "special" version of Java and everyone moves towards Sun's version.

On the whole, glad to see Opera make this very bold move. It won't change my choice of browser, but it's nice to see 2 decently funded alternatives to the market dominator. A three way horse race is much more fun than a 2 horse race. Now if Konqueror can get its act in gear, we might see a chance at a standards compliant web.