Opera 3.50 released

[Thomas Dowling]

Opera 3.50 has just been officially released.

For those who don't recall discussions about previous releases, Opera is a
web browser from a small software company in Norway.  It runs on 16- and
32-bit windows platforms only (for now), but it is *very* small and *very*
fast--the download still fits on a floppy disk and on my machine the
install took about 25 seconds.

The last time the subject came up, there was consensus among the people
who had looked at it that Opera would not make a very good browser for a
public workstation.  But for personal use, it is hard to find any browser
function offered by the Big Two do that Opera can't match or beat.

New features in 3.50 are very good CSS1 support and indirect support for
Java via a plugin from Sun.  (If you have way too much time on your hands,
you can also create your own set of navigational icons.)  Opera also
remains highly customizable and has a number of features for accessibility
that other browsers haven't adopted.  If you have such a need, you can
easily run 20 or more web sessions simultaneously.

Lest I sound like a shill for the company, I should point out some
disappointing shortcomings.  This version does not attempt to support HTML
4.0.  It doesn't support PNG images or Unicode, and its multiple document
interface (multiple child windows inside a parent window, instead of
multiple windows on the desktop) isn't everyone's cup of tea.  Also,
unfortunately, it's very late.  This is the version that Opera said was "a
couple weeks away" in late May, when they also said 4.0 would be out
around now.

There's a free 30-day evaluation, then registration is US$35.00, but it's
a free upgrade from any previously registered 3.x version.

Thomas Dowling
"Still not an employee, still a satisfied customer"
OhioLINK - Ohio Library and Information Network
tdowling at ohiolink.edu