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Being really into webdesign I try to have all the known browsers installed, if for nothing else simply to check my websites with. That also means I change my default browser setting about as often as a crooked politician changes opinions. All browsers have their own advantages and problems, and in my opinion, none is superior to any other.I haven’t had Internet Explorer as a default browser, probably since there was a choice. But sadly you still need to have it installed, as some services for some ridiculous reason demand it. It has improved greatly in it’s last few iterations, however and is no longer the spawn of Beelsebub it was a while ago.

Firefox has probably been the browser I’ve used the most – and in the vast library of extensions it still rules supreme. Firefox was originally inteded as a lighter version of Mozilla, which had grown to be a monster of an application. And in the years since,  much thanks to the alread mentioned vast library of extensions, Firefox too, has now become a monster. I deselected it as my default browser when it started to last too long to start up – even after I had uninstalled all extensions but the ones I used most. I still occasionally use Firefox – mostly when I need to use the brilliant Firebug-extension.

When Chrome appeared I switched over to it, because it was just so lightningly (if that isn’t a word, it ought to be) fast. And although I’ve heard rumours of extensions to it – it still remains light and fast, but a few weeks ago it lost it’s position as default browser on my Windows PC:s. ON my Macs it’s been mostly Firefox as well, and then Safari when I’ve grown tired of the weight and slowness of the Fox. I never really grew to like Safari though. I can’t really put my finger on why…

Opera has always been quirky. They have really freaky ideas like Unite, which I want no part of, but at least they’re innovating. I’ve used it before, and liked it. It manages to say reasonably light and fast even if it packs a punch. It’s quick to start and loads pages as fast as any others (I’m not counting microseconds here, because in daily use they really have no place) even if they have extensions – although they are called widgets – and an e-mail client. As the new version – Opera 10 – recently was released I decided to try it again.

Really, the usage of Opera is so marginal you don’t really need it for debugging purposes, so I was prepared to like it, but not use it. It has now been my default browser for about a month, and I don’t see any reason to change it. It’s not based on the WebKit-core like Chrome or Safari, nor the Mozilla-core like Firefox or Camino, so some pages will not render perfectly fine – but keep in mind that no browser shows all pages correctly – so don’t hold that against Opera.

The feature I love mostly in the new Opera is called Link. I have at present three computers in active use. One running Mac OSX, one running Windows Vista and one running Windows 7 RC. What Link does is simply synchronizing the bookmarks over the opera browsers over all these computers. There was some extension in Firefox that did this also, but this just works so simply and transparently. You create an account at their Social community called My Opera (come on, who hasn’t got a social community these days?!) and the browser stays logged in. Add a bookmark on one computer? It’s there on all computers. This saves me from the hassle of exporting and importing bookmark files. It also has a Firebug-ish component called Dragonfly, which I need to get acquainted with a bit better.

Will Opera ever become a major player in the already crowded browser-space? Probably not. It will just stay the quirky second-cousin  at the side lines. It’s not by any means superior to the others, but sufficiently different to warrant a try.