Nate Lanxon

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Performance testing an alpha release!?!?! Are you a total idiot? You may be "CNET.co.uk's expert on digital music and portable media" but you clearly haven't a clue when it comes to testing software. No-one but a fool would performance test even a beta, let alone an alpha release of any software. You only have to read the Opera Desktop Team's blog to see that the new JavaScript engine is not included in the alpha so your "test" was utterly pointless - just like your article, what a waste of time. Go back to your phones and MP3 players and leave the testing to the big boys!

Posted by Mike on Fri 27 February, 2009 12:29 AM

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I think it's more to do with the fact that they called it "Opera". A word that the vast majority of people associate with very long, boring musicals sung in a foreign language. Not exactly a word that has good associations and probably one of the biggest marketing gaffs I've ever come across. The words Firefox and Chrome just sound better. If they renamed it Serenity or Crusade or even Frodo, the geeks would jump on board and typically, everyone else would follow.

Posted by Nick Gilbert on Fri 27 February, 2009 8:46 AM

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Alright Mike, you may have noticed that I only tested it because I was criticised for not doing so originally in my Safari 4 comparison. Its results were not included in the final figures and did not feature in my graphs, for exactly the reason you pointed out.

Posted by Nate Lanxon, CNET UK on Fri 27 February, 2009 9:23 AM

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Opera is by far one of the best browsers around, but they all have their uses. Your comment is like saying, as Ferrari has only 0.1% market share they should stop making cars. And if Opera stopped making browsers who would all the other browsers copy then.

Posted by Julian on Fri 27 February, 2009 11:32 AM

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Looks like your about to invoke the wrath of Opera fans everywhere. I still haven't tried it but I haven't been particularly inclined to. Having four separate internet browsers installed on my PC is already enough. It'd have to bring something pretty new and exciting to the table before I gave it a shot. I agree about Opera Mini though, it's excellent. It would be nice to see it's development progress a little faster.

Posted by Joeheadycus on Fri 27 February, 2009 3:44 PM

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Opera fans will hopefully see that this is actually very positive. Opera has a chance to exploit its large skill set in a growing area it already has a strong foothold in. It's in a great position as long as it plays its cards right.

Posted by Nate Lanxon, CNET UK on Fri 27 February, 2009 3:59 PM

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I have all 3 browsers installed on my desktop. When it comes to fast and efficient browsing, I would much rather go with Opera. I absolutely love SPEED DIAL and commend their efforts. Nate - shouldnt you consider rephrasing the headline of your article...especially after upsetting so many fans!!

Posted by VJ on Fri 27 February, 2009 6:01 PM

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No, my headline is accurate -- I think Opera should give up on desktop browsers.

Posted by Nate Lanxon, CNET UK on Fri 27 February, 2009 10:13 PM

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So, just because Opera is behind safari in a stupid over-hyped javascript speed test, Opera should stop making desktop browsers. What a wonderfull reasoning. You should think twice before you think about posting such stupid non-sense on this website. People like you withdraw some of the good credit CNet has.

Posted by xErath on Sat 28 February, 2009 9:49 PM

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Nate, you're so wrong about Safari 4 annihilating Firefox or Google Chrome. The benchmarks didn't test the latest nightly builds of Firefox 3.2 or Google Chrome 2.0, which is basically up to par or even faster than Safari 4 Beta. So please, don't spread misleading info, it's embarassing for someone who claims to be an "expert".

Posted by Anonymous on Sat 28 February, 2009 10:34 PM

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You are an idiot. Opera's desktop revenue increased more than 100% from Q4'07 to Q4'08! "its desktop browser continually fails to attract significant market share" Bullcrap. Opera has from 5-10% market share everywhere except the US, even up to 20-30% market share in countries like Russia and Ukraine. Get a clue. "But this week I realised Opera's desktop efforts were utterly futile. I tested Apple's new Safari 4 browser and benchmarked its JavaScript rendering speed" Yeah, because of some artificial test, Opera should drop the desktop browser! Never mind the fact that the same engine is used on mobile phones, so according to you Opera should drop its mobile browsers as well since they will be equally slow compared to other browsers. Clueless, clueless, clueless.

Posted by Anonymous on Sat 28 February, 2009 11:58 PM

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"I think it's more to do with the fact that they called it "Opera"." That must be why Opera Mini is the dominant mobile browser, then. Clearly, "Opera" didn't work there either. LOL.

Posted by Anonymous on Sun 1 March, 2009 12:02 AM

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I am a long time Opera user. No matter what the OS, the browser remains the same. Although Opera needs to catch up in a few areas, the overall experience is a wonderful one. I wouldn't trade this browser for anything else. And i've TRIED everything.

Posted by Relaxion on Sun 1 March, 2009 8:58 AM

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I use opera on a mac connected to my 32 inch tv. there are features such as zooming by hitting '+' that other browsers don't do. I totally love using it. The only thing I'd like is a spell check, but it's in the next version.

Posted by Alistair on Sun 1 March, 2009 9:57 AM

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If Opera is gone from whom other web browser copy al lthe features then? Tabs, speed dial, quick search, zoom, etc? Fail post. Opera revenue's are increasing

Posted by dddddd on Sun 1 March, 2009 3:24 PM

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I dare you Nate to download and test all these browsers on a very limited system (I'm talking about a system with less than 512mb of ram and <1ghz) processor, javascript times mean bugger all if it can't work on systems like these. Not everyone has the fastest and bleeding edge PC, and thats where opera wins best, winning the hearts of pc users who can't afford the best.

Posted by Simon Houston on Sun 1 March, 2009 5:40 PM

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So because you tested some alpha-beta versions of a bunch of borwsers and didnt like opera you came to the conclusion that they should give up.great reasoning.you are a genius, really... Seriously, who hired this IDIOT?

Posted by elias k on Sun 1 March, 2009 11:32 PM

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Ololo! Nate Lanxon, you did this one for lulz, right? Then IMHO this post should be put into humor section.

Posted by Aux on Mon 2 March, 2009 1:04 PM

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Nate: aver heard of Carakan and Vega? Do some more backgroundchecking before you write anything next time please! Else you only come out as a clueless newbie... The first post by Mike is spot on!

Posted by Anonymous on Mon 2 March, 2009 2:41 PM

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Hey Nate, "Geek by profession". Do you watch Battlestar Galactica? If so, while writing your article I'm surprised you weren't naggingly reminded of that iconic phrase: "All this has happened before, and all of it will happen again." *Every* time there is some new browser, some new benchmark, some new killer feature released by another company, *someone* on at least a moderately well-known tech blog predicts the doom of Opera for desktop. Congratulations on continuing the cycle of predictability; you've joined an elite society of sensationalist wrong-thinkers. When Firefox marketshare ballooned, when Safari for Windows arrived, when Chrome was released, they all predicted that Opera was doomed, while the opposite turned out to be true. For heaven's sake, Nate, even Mozilla's resident Opera-basher Asa Dotzler, disagrees with you! Until you take some time to learn how browsers are really built and work, you should really stick with your reviews of "digital music and portable media". You know... things about which you actually *know* something.

Posted by GreyWyvern on Mon 2 March, 2009 3:28 PM

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I wonder how come you end up with this conclusion. I'm pretty sure that you haven't tested Opera for your daily browser. This article is looked like a newbie's writing to me. I agree with Julian, while Opera's market share is only --say it-- 10% in browsers industry, it doesn't mean that Opera should give up. There are militant users of Opera out there, you need to figure it out.

Posted by Yeni Setiawan on Mon 2 March, 2009 5:21 PM

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Wow, I certainly stirred the masses. So let me point something out. My opinion about Opera giving up on the desktop browser has PRACTICALLY nothing to do with its handling of Javascript. That would be demented. Rather, its future could be so rich if it focussed on mobile, where the insatiable competition it faces in the desktop space is far, far, far less apparent. Its server-side caching and lightening-fast rendering on mobile handsets is incredible, and stands to succeed massively in the mobile world. They might be making money, but they could be making mountains more. Most of Opera's money comes from Google, and I'd hate to see Opera fall because Google axed its support.

Posted by Nate Lanxon, CNET UK on Mon 2 March, 2009 7:30 PM

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@Nate I can see where you are coming from, but if Opera stop on the desktop, what sites would be tested on mobile versions if the rendering engine is newer on a mobile version of the browser? Opera desktop is the testing ground for the mobile business. The only reasons for low market share is primarily because of two reasons. 1: Extreme lack of aggressive marketing(seen a browser ad besides firefox in a newspaper recently?) 2: Lack of an easy add on format, this could come down to pure laziness, but people tend to want to "download and its done" than configure for 20 mins in order to do what one wants with a browser. If Opera can rectify these 2 issues, I'm sure it'll kick it up a notch. But still , do you think firefox would have a higher market share if Microsoft allowed a choice of browser for their OS, or at the very least , did not force users(at first) to use their browser to update an OS? And to begin with, used a proper plugin format instead of ActiveX? These alone makes and made people choose one browser over another, and this alone allowed IE to achieve 90% market share at one time, it shouldn't have been the case, and thats why the EC are on Microsoft's back

Posted by Simon Houston on Mon 2 March, 2009 7:49 PM

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Sorry for out from the topic. I think this comment form need to convert new lines into line break. So the comments would be easily to be read.

Posted by Yeni Setiawan on Tue 3 March, 2009 5:19 AM

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@Nate: You really don't know what you're talking about, do you? Opera is using the same engine on all platforms. (that means they have 1 engine that works on the desktop and mobile and anywhere else...) "its future could be so rich if it focussed on mobile" No it doesn't, the desktop product makes up more than 1/5 of Opera's total revenues (and they grew by 117% in Q4 2008 compared to Q4 2007)

Posted by Sirnh1 on Tue 3 March, 2009 8:40 AM

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My god, you are plain and simple one of the BIGGEST IDIOTS I have EVER seen. And that is saying a lot. I would try to explain why, but many others have already done so, and it clearly just goes straight over your head. As they have said, stick to your "idgital music and portable media" that you purportedly know SOMEthing about. Because clearly, you know F-all about this. Oh and for the record, I'm not even a regular freaking Opera user! So no, not "invoking Opera fan wrath" here.

Posted by MM on Tue 3 March, 2009 12:04 PM

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Obviously you have no idea about Opera as a company, but I don't expect this really from an "expert"... So I may tell you something: The great thing about Opera is it's platform independence (firefox may be "cross-platform" but it still doesn't really work on mobile phones for example). Opera's "desktop team" is REALLY small, especially compared to other browsers. Most of the work done at Opera goes to EVERY platform and device. So EVEN IF Opera hadn't a chance on the markets, they wouldn't really save much from closing the Desktop Team. By the way, do you know ANY other browser that has a built in email client? And for Firefox' great market position: If I had a multi-billion dollar company (G...) that had helped me promote my product in any possible manner, I knew WHAT browser would be top now.......

Posted by Martin on Wed 4 March, 2009 4:28 PM

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OMG, and you call yourself an EXPERT!!?. Now I can see the "value" of CNET reviews.

Posted by coffy on Wed 4 March, 2009 5:14 PM

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I really don't understand why everyone is going crazy on here and calling Nate an idiot. If Opera focused more on the mobile browser market, would they make more money, and in the end become the essential mobile browser? YES!

Posted by Richard on Thu 5 March, 2009 12:29 PM

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"...and I'd hate to see Opera fall because Google axed its support." Support? What support? Google pays opera each time someone uses the built in search box to look something up via Google, they do the same with Firefox. This kind of thing, like google adds is the core of their business, they're hardly going to abandon it.

Posted by Zotlan on Thu 5 March, 2009 3:34 PM

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How exactly would dropping the desktop browser development help Opera? It wouldn't make their mobile browsers any better, would it?

Posted by Joonas on Thu 5 March, 2009 4:32 PM

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Thank you, this post was hilarious. :) Sure spoiled my opinion about site claiming "expert tech reviews" as tagline but still good laugh was worth a visit.

Posted by Rarst on Thu 5 March, 2009 6:31 PM

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I think you mixed up a couple of things here. First of all there is no need to give up the browser for PCs. It is highly profitable and it is against the market strategy of Opera, which is to provide the best web-experience on any device. Second it's true that the market share of the browser is tiny in western Europe and the US, but the world is bigger than that, in fact the US accounts for only 4 percent of the worlds population. Not the most important market for Opera. Third, the feature Opera Link, which is also part of Opera's browser strategy, means you can take all your bookmarks and bring them with you to your devices easily. A great advantage compared to all other browsers. While you make some attempts to defend your position, it just becomes clear that you don't know enough about this to build a credible case for your argumet. In essence, for Opera to give up it's PC version would be like for Google to focus only on adds and searching and nothing else. There is a thought behind Google docs and Google Gears.. the same goes for Opera's products. All in all, it was a bold statement but you are hardly coming out of this one without some well deserved critisism.

Posted by Anonymous on Thu 5 March, 2009 6:46 PM

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The only reason for Opera to drop the Desktop would be to give all the other browser developers a deep breath so that they could finally end the catch-up game. Opera might not be for the average user, or even the average developer, but aside from FF for the OS fanatics I can see no replacement anywhere.

Posted by Patrick on Thu 5 March, 2009 10:32 PM

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I always find it funny how people think that because Opera has an "insignificant" market share, that Opera ASA is doing poorly at marketing, or is failing as a company. Even if Opera is at <1% of all internet users, that would still be 15 million users. That's a lot of revenue. Think of how many people read your articles. I'll bet it's less than 1% of the CNET visitors, but you still do it, likely because you enjoy it and you get paid (i guess). Do you quit because more people read Dvorak's horribly bad blog posts than read expert CNET articles? Now, think about how intensely people have posted because they love the Opera browser. Clearly, Opera ASA is doing something right.

Posted by Jordan on Fri 6 March, 2009 12:05 AM

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Hi Nate, I challenge you to tray Opera 2 month, I will guaranty you a new Internet experience and you will newver look back. Tray to learn the mousegesture, keyboard shortcut and all the built in features. For me I am not so afraid about the speed, Opera has a history of being the fasted browser. And now they are working on a javascript engine that is reported to be 50 times faster in some test then the one they have today.

Posted by lettlurt on Fri 6 March, 2009 12:06 AM

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@Nate. Dude this is a savvy company... they've been around for a long time and fingers crossed they'll be around for a long while to come. I know you mean the best, but your advice is like finger in eye to everyone who (like me) _loves_ the UI they have in Opera. Until your brain chemistry clicks to the shear awesomeness of what the Opera UI offers, you will never fathom the fervent craziness of Opera users ...

Posted by Matt on Fri 6 March, 2009 12:55 AM

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Nate: "Most of Opera's money comes from Google" -- Nonsense again. Desktop is 1/4 or 1/5 of Opera's total revenues. It's a big part, but NOT "most of Opera's money". The rest is licensing, revenue sharing with operators, etc.

Posted by Anonymous on Fri 6 March, 2009 1:28 AM

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Richard: "If Opera focused more on the mobile browser market, would they make more money, and in the end become the essential mobile browser? YES!" -- NO! They would lose NEARLY A QUARTER OF THEIR REVENUE. Also, they would lose an IMPORTANT TESTING BASE, as well as a COMMUNITY and MARKETING TOOL.

Posted by Anonymous on Fri 6 March, 2009 1:28 AM

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Jordan: "Even if Opera is at <1% of all internet users, that would still be 15 million users." -- Actually, Opera has more than 35 million desktop users. Up from 20 million mid to late last year.

Posted by Anonymous on Fri 6 March, 2009 1:29 AM

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Opera should give up on the desktop browser? Really? Well, let's see... where would that put us given that about 90% of the features in all modern browser (including most of the features Apple are claiming to have invented for Safari 4) were invented by Opera. Where then would browser makers get their ideas from? "with Google, Mozilla, Apple and Microsoft all on the scene, Opera's battle is more doomed than ever" - which is why they've seen bigger increases in usage than ever before since the release of Chrome. "complete nonsense since Firefox is massively popular despite Microsoft's dominant position" - which is why Firefox cited the same thing before they gained popularity - would you have had them drop their browser then? Opera is a very young browser in the "free" market, many people forget you had to pay for it until recently. "benchmarked its JavaScript rendering speed" - You know, I'd be a lot more surprised if Safari didn't come first in a benchmark they wrote themselves.

Posted by lucideer on Fri 6 March, 2009 2:50 AM

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"Nate is CNET.co.uk's expert on digital music and portable media" - and it shows. Please stick to topics you know at least a marginal amount about. Your article demonstrates ignorance of countless relevant subjects, something the employees of Opera are certainly a lot more well informed on than you are. You haven't even bothered to research most of what you're talking about.

Posted by Anonymous on Fri 6 March, 2009 2:59 AM

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I would be embarrassed if I posted this article. The blatant lack of research, zero business experience, and experience with browsers that is marginal at best. You really couldn't have picked a more inappropriate topic for your skill set, Nate.

Posted by Anonymous on Fri 6 March, 2009 10:01 AM

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Nate, Opera is hiring right and left right now. They aren't pulling developers away from Opera Mini to make the desktop browser. They're hiring more people to work on both projects. And they are making bucketloads of money right now, too. I don't see why only hiring people onto the mobile and not desktop product would make more money than hiring people onto both...

Posted by IceArdor on Fri 6 March, 2009 10:08 AM

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What a click-bate story. ZMG! Browser A does one thing slightly quicker (so slight, that you'd never really notice unless you were doing tests) than Browser B, so Browser B should just quit. Lame.

Posted by DS on Fri 6 March, 2009 12:02 PM

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Read your points about the whole post before you publish this, clearly you did not think about the feelings of Opera users.

Posted by Jeremy on Fri 6 March, 2009 12:46 PM

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Well, if you really think that Opera should give up on dekstop brouwser based on your "expert" knowledge, then I am pretty certain YOU SHOULD GIVE UP ON WRITING TECH ARTICLES all together. You don't seem to have a clue about what you're writing, so please spare us the pain and never write any other articles.

Posted by JustYourAverageJoe on Fri 6 March, 2009 1:51 PM

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How about running them all on the Acid3 test and then post the results. The other browsers have all stolen most of their features from Opera.

Posted by Mike on Fri 6 March, 2009 6:10 PM

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Hey Nate, I have an idea ... How about you use Lynx while we enjoy our browse with Opera. You're arguments for discontinuation of this terrific desktop browser are ridiculous at best. And yes, I actually have tried every other browser known to man, on PC, Linux and Mac. Guess which one I use? Keep up the great work Opera Team!!

Posted by Buford on Fri 6 March, 2009 10:00 PM

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boy, please, write about music and portable devices. You don't know nothing about web browsers. You wasted CNET money on this article. Go back to the kindergarden !

Posted by andresruiz on Sat 7 March, 2009 3:24 AM

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"Nate is CNET.co.uk's expert on digital music and portable media" Lets just stick to it and not talk to strangers

Posted by Anshul on Tue 10 March, 2009 9:27 PM

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Hey! I agree with you that Opera should give up on windows desktop browsers, however, using linux as well, I find Opera to be infinitively faster than Firefox (and Safari is, so far, a no go area for Linux unless you're prepared to use WINE, which with a magma hot AMD Turion on a 3 year old Compaq is impossible). Maybe if you guys at Cnet benchmarked browsers on Linux it could change my opinion, but from what I've read so far, it seems Opera should continue creating its awesome browser, at least for us Linux dual booters hehe. Ah and btw, Opera mini still has a few things that need sorting out, namely how scrolling through a webpage often ends up being a struggle between scrolling and zooming in and unnecessary clicking of link. I for one place more faith in the upcoming fennec browser that Mozilla is preparing.

Posted by Andre on Wed 18 March, 2009 10:22 AM

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"agree with you that Opera should give up on windows desktop browsers" Are you retarded?

Posted by Anonymous on Thu 19 March, 2009 5:32 PM

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Lol, Safari 4. I can't even stand to hear that word. Sure I may be a 14 year old, but some of us know the technology world quite a bit. You're basing a web browser's speed on Javascript. Lolwut? Every page has Javascript? Lol onoz~ I agree with one of the commenters, if Opera stopped on desktop, what browser would the other browsers start to copy? :( Excuse my usage of 1337 talk.

Posted by Andrew, the 14 year old. on Wed 25 March, 2009 11:32 PM

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"Wow, I certainly stirred the masses." Glad you realized your ginormous blunder. Now stop floundering about in more and give up writing to stick to your day job.

Posted by zinga on Sun 5 April, 2009 9:13 AM

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"Nate Lanxon, MP3 & Digital Music Editor" Opera is not music related. So there are nothing to do with you. And I have tried Safari for Windows lately. It really sucks. The Chinese characters blured in Safari, so that it is very difficult to read the texts in Safari. Slower Javascript rendering engine (perhaps) in Opera or unreadable texts in Safari, which one do you prefer?

Posted by noxnaL etaN on Tue 14 April, 2009 3:37 AM

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At last Nate Lanxon is famous now owing to Opera. Like many other browsers stealing Opera's features and becoming famous/better etc. Nate I got your real point. You succeed! ;)

Posted by Nik Mark on Fri 24 April, 2009 7:17 AM

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Opera is the Best. Long Live Opera.

Posted by belask on Wed 20 May, 2009 1:33 AM

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you obviously have not seen the growth in Opera's desktop revenue, overall growth in users, huge market share in fast growing countries like Russia and Indonesia and the huge benefit of turbo for millions of people who only have limited internet speed, especially in the developing world. One should also note Opera link, a superb way of synchronizing bookmarks and more across all your pcs, mobile phones and devices. Others will copy but don't underestimate this visionary fast growing company. They made a huge mistake several years ago by trying to charge for desktop software but since they ditched that failed model they have hardly put a foot wrong. As they become a more recognisable name, and the likes of vodafone and T mobile roll out mini on phones, peopl'e's natural curiousity will lead them to try opera out.

Posted by andrew parker on Sun 7 June, 2009 8:23 PM

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Nate Lanxon, i see you're an expert of the highest caliber. Just to remind you - an 'expert' is someone who knows more and more about something smaller and smaller until he knows EVERYTHING about NOTHING!!!

Posted by Philip on Thu 17 September, 2009 12:37 PM

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