Return of the "browser for geeks"? A word in defense of Opera Next 15 (philosophical topic)

I confess at once: I am a renegade. Being a loyal Opera user from school days, two years ago I traded it for Chrome , which today is my main working browser. The reasons for such a transition were (below I will tell about them in more detail). However, I didn’t intend to completely distance myself from my former favorite: I followed the release of new versions, installed them, studied them (this is, in general, not surprising - I’m a web developer). But I did not find any arguments in favor of returning to Opera ... until Opera Next 15 came out, the other day it made so much noise on Habré and not only. Now I seriously think about becoming a defector a second time and returning to the camp of Opera users.

Of course, I didn’t like Opera Next 15 . I think that in its current form it may not please anyone, except Monsieur, who has specific tastes. Raw product on a new engine (almost alpha), devoid of all its former charms, is able to break the hearts of fans. He broke. They started talking about the “betrayal” by the Opera developers of their users - those same geeks, who made up 5% of the browser market, relegated to the Norwegian product (although gossip started from the moment of the announcement of the transition to Blink / WebKit ). Of course, the charges are not unfounded. But it seems to me that right now, making a turning point in its history and being under the fire of heavy criticism, Opera for the first time in a long time is again worthy of being called a true “browser for geeks”.
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“If you want to make enemies, try to change something” (Woodrow Wilson)

Everyone knows that at one time Opera was the pioneer who introduced many of the features that are familiar to us today in all browsers. During the reign of Internet Explorer , which did not change its appearance and gut almost for decades, and when all other browsers were also equal to it, Opera constantly invented something new, changed something, threw out something. Evolved. And that is what secured the glory of the browser for geeks. Today, many think that this nickname is given because of the presence in Opera of a number of non-standard tools. But the latter is only a consequence, not a cause. The primary source of Opera’s particular position among browsers, which determined loyalty to it of a certain layer of Internet users, was precisely the passion for experimentation and innovation.

But in recent years, everything has changed. Chrome appeared, Firefox began to develop at a frantic pace, and even the formidable IE abbreviation of web programmers does not cause a migraine attack, as before. Let's face it honestly - all these respected browsers have adopted the best that was once an exclusive Opera , and added their own features. Result: the differences between browsers began to blur, the era of unification and fast flickering of the numbered versions, a promising paradise for the web designers, has come - they no longer have to try to sit in vain on three chairs.

And in this idyll, everything became good, except, in fact, Opera , which began to look like an "honorary pioneer retired pioneer", but in fact - one of many.

"That you lived in an era of change!" (Chinese curse)

Now I will answer the question why two years ago I traded Opera for Chrome . There were two main reasons: firstly, objective disadvantages (compatibility issues with Google sites and banking services + sluggishness of the once fastest browser), and secondly ... secondly, by the time I stopped using it, Opera is essentially was no longer a “geek browser”. Of course, there were a lot of “goodies” in it that attracted geeks, but experimentation practically faded away, limiting itself to changing small details of design and shuffling menu items. At least for me it looked that way. The browser has evolved, evolved, and evolved - it has come to a well-established mind, when you can’t change anything just like that, you don’t throw it out, you don’t add it.

That is why I was pleased with the news about the transition to WebKit . In this (besides the possibility of solving past compatibility problems), I saw confirmation that Opera is still capable of real changes, not consisting in games with the color and shape of the buttons. Presto , of course, sorry. And I, in general, agree with those who see dangerous moments in the emerging monopoly of WebKit . But I strongly disagree with the fact that the change of the engine was a betrayal of the Opera paradigm. I prefer to look at it this way: which of the popular browsers these days could decide on such a radical change of its entire foundation at once? Well aware of all the disadvantages of this step for the camp of Opera fans, I found in it a confirmation that Opera is not going to betray the core basis of its philosophy. She is open to change, despite the fact that it is guaranteed not to like her own users. Madness? Of course.

“To be irreplaceable, you need to change all the time” (Coco Chanel)

And then Opera Opera 15 saw the light - brand new and ugly. As I guessed, the developers decided, using the opportunity, not only to change the engine of the car, but to thoroughly work on the body, interior and gearbox. The transition is accompanied not only by the change of the engine, but also by major changes in the interface and way of browser life (many people were especially hated by the removal of bookmarks and their replacement with the concept of "piggy bank"). There are not most of the features that everyone is used to (however, they promise to return some of them in the near future). Now the browser is dropped almost "to zero" (well, not really). He has a bunch of new problems, and his development will begin anew. As for me, it will be more interesting than the stalled branch of evolution, interrupted by the 12th version. I’m curious to see what kind of product will be in the end, it will be interesting to follow the experiments and innovations that will obviously be. And I think that if a stable version of the browser comes out, albeit with flaws, I’ll be happy to return to Opera . It will be interesting.

In the comments to the topic about Opera Next ’s exit Opera 15 I saw that the main criticism boils down to two arguments: “ Opera was a browser for geeks, they were the most loyal to 5% of the audience, and now it's just Chrome, goodbye” and “I'm already N I've been using Opera for years, I got used to it, everything was caught up with me, and you ruined everything, goodbye. ” So after all, the fact of the matter is that Opera , as it turned out, is really a “browser for geeks”, in which it is desperate enough to abruptly change course and begin to sculpt itself again. And for us, for those who, during a period of calm, forgot about the roots of this browser, of course, this is unpleasant. But can we then call ourselves "geeks"? If the statistics of the first argument is correct, then 95% of those for whom Opera has essentially become a stable Chrome will go away - and those 5% who are still able to survive the shocks and love them will remain. Although, perhaps this will mean the death of the browser as a commercial product.

Well, in that case, you can probably say that Opera is dead, remaining true to its spirit to the end.