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1. 
   Review - Opera for Windows

   9.00 Build 8502 (Jun 26, 2006)

   To get this out of the way first, I'm now rating it a 3 because Opera 9 was IMO released prematurely. This seems fairly obvious by the continued frequent Opera 9 updates post-release. I don't recall them being so frequent after Opera 8 or 8.5.
   
   Anyway, I actually enjoy Metshrine's lengthy reviews, though I do think Betanews' formatting standards and content display make them a bit cumbersome to read and enjoy. He makes a lot of valid points, many of which I agree with. I'll point out specifically what I don't agree with for now.
   
   First off I'm glad Opera doesn't support every j-random toolbar around. Although I am definitely supportive of browser customization I think this is one area where - more than almost any other - the system is easy to abuse. Even legitimate toolbars like Yahoo's are really pretty bloated and crappy, adding little real functionality and taking up space and resources. Ok so some people may like it, but I'm just saying I don't find the lack of general 3rd party toolbar support a problem. Tools like that *can* be created for Opera - there could be Google Toolbar for Opera I believe, but it's just not a big enough market to warrant it. I *would* like better support for moving toolbars and other customization, but I don't miss 3rd party toolbars at all. I'd much rather have extensions.
   
   Speaking of that, apparently it's a very little-known fact but Opera *does* have a plugin system. It apparently supports some version of Netscape plugins, although I'm fairly sure they have to be somewhat customized to work specifically with Opera. But again it *does* have a plugin system, and presumably a reasonable robust one as the few plugins that are developed for Opera seem to have fairly deep access. It's just not nearly as easy to use as FF's Extensions system so there are far fewer developers. I definitely find this frustrating. I think the worst thing about this is how little documented, marketed and supported the existing plugin support is. For example with Roboform I would think an Opera plugin could be made and, if the Roboform people won't do it, then I would like to see the Opera devs themselves take it upon themselves. Roboform is a very widely used app that Opera should be compatible with. At the least they should provide more documentation for the plugin support so that others can work with it.
   
   I could rant on but I'm at work so must go. ;) To everyone else I say take the time to read what Metshrine is saying. I don't think he's an FF or IE fanboy, he seems to genuinely like Opera, as I do. But he also recognizes flaws in it, same as me. It's frustrating to see something so great, with so much potential, still failing in some key areas because of stubborness, bad priorities, or simply lack of resources and support.
   
   - Oshyan

2. 
   Review - Opera for Windows

   9.0 Build 8501 Beta (Jun 19, 2006)

   First I'd like to really commend Metshrine on an extremely well-written and in my opinion very accurate, insightful review. I agree with just about every point he made.
   
   I've been using Opera as my primary browser since they removed the ads something like a year ago and I've really fallen in love with it. To me it embodies the quality of being intelligently designed. Things like the pop-out Start Bar, intelligent tab handling (ex: click a tab a 2nd time and it goes back to the previous one), and especially the advanced history functionality are all vital to my daily browsing habits and are extremely well designed and integrated into the browser. It also has excellent support for saved sessions which is very important to me as well - I haven't lost any browser sessions due to crashes or power outtages since I have used Opera (I used Avant previously and it has this capability too, but FF does not without an extension). All of this is built in and "just works" - as it should be IMO.
   
   All that being said I too am increasingly frustrated by the continuing rendering issues on a more-than-insignificant number of pages. As Metshrine said it really doesn't matter whose "fault" it is, Opera isn't going to get people to just do what they want and if they want to increase their market share they need to provide solutions that "just work". Sometimes it's even Opera's fault and although they're generally good about fixes, they're surprising stubborn about certain things that IMO should be fixed.
   
   Meanwhile, as previously mentioned, they are adding on all these fairly niche, non-browser-centric features like bittorrent and voice. Who cares? Ok, with voice they are helping some handicapped people and that's great. But isn't it simply better for those people to have system-wide voice support? So why is it Opera's job to do this?
   
   Meanwhile FF gets by virtually on the sole merit of its excellent extension system - even a lot of FF fans must agree that without extensions Opera is superior. If Opera allowed extensions it would be a hands-down winner IMO. Voice, bittorrent, etc. could all be added as extensions!
   
   As a power user I am very frustrated by my browser deciding for me that I can't use something because it poses a "security risk". What's worse is that Opera does put a lot of power in the hands of users that could cause much greater security risks - the wand is one (though I find this very convenient and would hate to see it removed or limited). So the security argument is really pretty hollow IMO.
   
   In the end I continue to use Opera for my daily browsing because it truly is a pleasure to use most of the time. The ability to use a program that "just feels right" is very important. But the more pages I see rendering improperly and the more cool FF extensions I hear about the more frustrated I get. I think Opera needs to take a serious look at what its userbase wants and what the greater market would respond to and make a s*** for Opera 10.
   
   They should have 2 fundamental goals for Opera 10: 1. Fix rendering issues for 95+% of sites (support this with a sponsored campaign to encourage people to report faulty sites, maybe a "report broken rendering" button in Opera - make it super easy)
   2. Create a secure, easy to use, powerful "extensions"/plugin system that equals or surpasses FF's system in terms of ease and speed of development and end user ease of use.
   
   That's all for now.
   
   Sincerely,
   A Dedicated Opera User

3. Comment - Free Antivirus Offered to Vista Testers

   9.0 Build 8501 Beta (May 26, 2006 - 7:26 PM)

   Um, C-A have been offering 12 month free subscriptions of their A-V products to MS customers for years now. How is this new? http://www.my-etrust.com/microsoft/ (check archive.org if you don't believe it's been around for a while).
   
   I do like C-A's A/V and I use it in my office. The one problem I've had with it is the purchase/upgrade process, specifically with account management. They have an account management system that simply does not allow combining accounts. So if one person in our organization re-registers their antivirus with a different company credit card and unique login/pass (as they have), then we have to maintain that separate login/pass info in order to upgrade that install, forever.
   
   Another annoying thing about their reg system is that you can have the same user name (e-mail address) accessing *multiple* accounts, as long as the password is different. In other words let's say you setup 1 account with a password, then go back to buy more copies later. If you specify the wrong password at a certain point it will just create a *new* account for you with that password. So now you have to login with the same e-mail address but keep two different passwords to access two different accounts. Pretty stupid system. They contract with Digital River for this service, so it's really their fault I think.
   
   - Java