Opera 10 Goes into Beta Mode
Opera 10 Goes into Beta Mode
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Microsoft, Mozilla and Opera have all been working on developing their new browsers, with Microsoft taking the lead with the release of Internet Explorer 8 earlier in the year. Mozilla too is working on Firefox 3.5, with the beta 4 currently available for download. Operaâs entry into the race could lead to some interesting equations.
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Opera 10 beta 1 features expandable tabs, which can be turned into thumbnails just by dragging a bar beneath the tabs. Though only a cosmetic feature, it gives the browser a classy feel. With its built-in turbo compression technology, the browser opens websites with stunning speeds even on low bandwidth connections. The technology also makes it possibly the fastest browser currently available.
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Opera has also added a Speed Dial feature on the browser, which allows users to directly load one of their favourite websites in a new tab. The next generation browser also carries Opera Mail, the light weight email client from Opera that can serve as a replacement to Microsoft Outlook and Mozilla Thunderbird.
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With the Opera Presto 2.2 engine at its core, Opera 10 boasts of a perfect score on the Acid3 compatibility test, which means it meets the highest web standards currently in practice. The Presto 2.2 engine makes the browser compatible with Web Fonts, RGBA/HSLA colour, and SVG improvements among others.
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While Opera has created a highly feature-packed browser, it seems to have overlooked one major short-coming that bugged its earlier versions too. Opera 10 continues to disappoint in its security/ad-blocking ability. Unlike IE 8 and Firefox 3.0.10, Opera 10 does not seem to allow selective blocking of JavaScript and Flash. So if you have JavaScript turned off and are visiting a site that has JavaScript, you might miss out on content that you need.
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Opera is yet to confirm the official release date for its next generation browser, but the beta 1 suggests IE and Firefox could be in for some serious competition from this superfast offering. The beta 1 already has enough features and innovations to pull-in lots of IE or Firefox fans; the effects of the final version only remain to be seen.
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