Opera 10.60 beta

So, the first beta version of Opera 10.60 browser has been released. As it became clear, the 10.5x branch “did not meet the expectations” and was removed from the conveyor. And the point is not that in previous versions something happened wrong - in recent months quite a lot of innovations were added to the browser code, which made it possible to switch to a new number, and in the case of Linux and Mac versions - to skip one release. But first things first.

First of all, what immediately catches the eye is that the good tradition to release a new version simultaneously for all platforms has now been restored. Users of all popular platforms with the new beta got the opportunity to evaluate all the innovations without any time lag.

Next - speed. The marathon called “who is faster” continues, and we are not going to give in to other participants of this curious (however, dictated by time) competition - Opera 10.60 beta again shows speed records, working almost 50% faster than the previous version of the Norwegian browser. And there is an opinion that this is not the limit;)
')


Interface changes. It makes no sense to describe them in detail - everyone can easily try the new version and see the difference with the previous release. I’ll say right away that not everything will be smooth here (do not forget that this is only a beta version so far), but I hope this does not hurt to evaluate innovations. Naturally, we ask you to inform us about all the mistakes and inconveniences - this will help the final release to make the interface as convenient and attractive for most users as possible.

New features. Yes, you can’t do without them - the world doesn’t stand still and new technologies are born every day, which begin their rapid path to users' computers. First of all, it concerns the new WebM video codec - now Opera has added support for it. This means that the day is getting closer and closer, when you do not need to install any additional plug-ins to view the video on the network, which is good news.



Geolocation. The first experience of implementing this technology in Opera was conducted several years ago, and now, it seems, this technology is finally ready to enter the large market. But you should not worry about the fact that from this day the whole world will know where you live: the function is activated only on request, so you can always keep your location secret. If you have nothing to fear and the inclusion of geolocation does not frighten you - in return, you can get more accurate information from the network, adapted to your physical location.



And, finally, the notorious support for the new (albeit not yet fully completed) HTML5 specifications. Partially, some functions have already been implemented in Opera, and this beta release only expands their presence in the browser. But expanding is quite tempting for developers and users. First of all, it is AppCache and Web Workers. The first technology allows you to work with applications even offline, and the second adds support for multi-threading in Javascript, helping to carry out massive and resource-intensive calculations in the background, without stopping the processing of interface events. In fact, these are only the most noticeable “supplements”. According to the HTML5 test, the new version of Opera has significantly advanced in terms of supporting new web standards compared to the 10.5x branch.



For dessert, you can tell about another small innovation - search tips that appear directly in the browser interface. However, the function is still quite raw and will improve in the future - in the meantime, you can try it on the example of a search on Wikipedia.

In short, that's all. As always - we are waiting for your comments and suggestions , they will help us to make a truly fast, convenient and modern browser for the final release.

You can download new beta from here .