This whole "supporting browsers" thing should be gone, and very soon. There are specifications that browser makers should follow, and if they are all supporting those specifications, then they well be well-supported.<p>The only differentiator between page rendering among browsers should really be speed.<p>(I believe Opera is actually one of the browsers that adheres most closely to the specs.)
Worry given of all the browsers Opera has been the most standards compliant. No reason why Google can't support it as by supporting other browsers they supoprt Opera and with that if you change the browser ID then it just works - funny that.<p>I Have noticed that Facebook have been bashing google indirectly and directly and maybe Opera are deemed part of Facebook now for some reason and got dragged into this.<p>I have also noticed the google search landing page having below in effect adverts for there new products <a href="https://www.google.co.uk/" rel="nofollow">https://www.google.co.uk/</a> gives me the line below with link to buy a chromebook "From zero to online in seconds. Introducing the new Chromebook" - same results nomatter what browser I use.<p>Not sure if Facebook have purchased Opera and google got wind of it and acting all evil or if it is a gross oversight. Either way something smells.
I didn't use Wave because it didn't work in Opera, and apparently I chose correctly.<p>My assumption is that the Blogger service is faced with cutting costs, and dropping non-mainstream browsers makes sense in that context. So, at the moment I see this as a negative indicator for Blogger, not for Opera.<p>Wake me when Gmail or Voice officially drops support.
google is frankly starting to enrage me, they are seeming to become more and more a company with only one obvious goal - own the internet. They have made some good products ( the chrome developer tools are great ), but I'm sick of them just blowing over anyone or anything that stands in their seeming quest towards a complete monopoly ( the google books settlement is a good example ). What happen to the good ol days where google at least seemed open and supportive of the internet, its community, and innovation?
"The reason I felt it important to pass on this news to non-Opera users is that I’m wondering if Google are going to stop at Opera? I get the sense that this could be the thin end of a wedge, and that Opera may not be the only browser which ends up getting the cold shoulder."<p>I doubt Google will give a cold shoulder to browsers with actual market share.<p>I'm glad Opera exists to keep a check on the other browser makers... I'm also glad Opera only has 1% market share so I can ignore it when I make own websites.
Go Opera! Go!<p>How would one buy a computer in East Europe?<p>You go to some PC shop (the vast majority of them were not in a chain of shops, just one guy selling PCs in one area and that's it). You barely had enough money for the machine so nobody was buying software. Anyway, the shop owner (a technical person) knew that it can't work unless he installs some OS. So Windows was installed for free. They could also install some other software for a small fee (the fee was for the work to install it and not for software), or you could buy CDs with software. When they installed software they would usually install the best there was (because anyway, nobody was paying for it so why not?). That meant best software in the category and the latest version of that software. For browsers that meant Opera.<p>How did you fix the PC?<p>You just get you technical friend to do it or the shop owner that sold you the PC. When these people would see that you still use IE they would (start to cry and) immediately install what they used: Opera.<p>So Opera adoption was driven by technical people installing, repairing PCs.<p>Why it's not so popular elsewhere?<p>Marketing. MS was telling you how to get on the internet in ads. Firefox was fighting a big monster in articles. I don't recall seeing either for Opera at the time.
As a long time Opera user, I have always seen Google treat Opera badly. When Google+ came, I didn't realise there was the notifications bar until I logged into Chrome. It never came on Opera.
"They’re not exactly forcing Blogger users who currently run Opera to migrate to Chrome, but they are making Opera untenable, and suggesting Chrome in its placev"<p>I have also had this feeling that Google is trying to monopolize the web. Hopefully this is only a misstep or my paranoia.<p>Chrome is very nice browser, but so is also Opera!
"they are making Opera untenable"<p>I disagree. Opera's desktop marketshare is making Opera untenable. Even though Google is a major corporation, I doubt they can afford to spend the time fixing issues in a browser that gets lower single digit uses. Its not economically viable. No one will argue that Opera is a better browser than IE8, but IE8's marketshare dictates it should be supported.<p>Google is no more forcing users to use chrome than they are forcing them to use firefox or IE
I love Opera; it's incredibly fast (until the past few years Opera was king of the JavaScript speed) and very standards compliant. I hope this doesn't become a trend.
I started using Opera in the days when its free version was supported by adware (I actually purchased a license). It was always a technical innovator, so the question of why it failed to garner market share is a good one. The answer, of course, is that technical superiority is never a prerequisite for commercial success. Marketing trumps engineering every time.
Philosophically, I'd like every web page/app/widget/etc to be browser agnostic, and deliver an A-Grade user experience; but this is getting blown out of proportion.<p>1. Blogger ditching support for Opera, means the population that uses Opera to administer a Blogger blog is affected. Of all Opera users, how many administer a Blogger blog?<p>2. Browsers are just applications. Doesn't mean you have to do <i>everything</i> in one browser. Administer your Blogger blog in not-Opera; use Opera to consume your favorite web cotent.<p>Easy solution? Download another browser. If it upsets you that much, move your blog to another platform.
I really want to like opera....it tends to be a memory hog (at least for me) and it tries to do too many things. In any case, if they open sourced the software it might see more adoption.<p>Opera does not take a lot of dev work at all. I do like some of the dev tools (unlike firefox - excluding firebug).<p>I could never get opera to work properly on Google Apps. Lets be honest, it's not like google made an effort to begin with.<p>I just find this kind of odd. It's kinda like when Microsoft thought it was too hard to support Firefox on msn.com. Look how that turned out.
Browser war upcoming. Facebook recently added Chrome to their list of unsupported browsers (<a href="http://www.zurb.com/article/991/facebooks-unsupported-browsers-whats-goin" rel="nofollow">http://www.zurb.com/article/991/facebooks-unsupported-browse...</a>) and this is obviously a counter-attack from Google. Google seem to be pretty sure that Facebook will in fact buy Opera.
When I do web development, I test in Opera at the very end after I have fixed all issues in IE, Firefox, Chrome and Safari and guess what?<p>I never had to make one tweak for Opera. Ever. Opera has almost a religious focus on coding to standards. While I bet there are specific issues with implementation, whatever happened to the concept of coding to the standard and let browsers do their work?<p>Do Blogger features really need HTML5 WebGL 2.0 or something? I can understand some layout issues and willing to excuse them, but to not support them functionality wise is really sad, especially when you're the biggest web property on the internet. This is a throwback to the days of "Best works in IE(TM)".<p>To add insult to injury, I sometimes get messages like "Need a faster browser, Get Chrome" on Gmail.
It's been this way for a long time. Opera is such a fantastic browser, it's a shame to see giants like Google turn their backs to it for whatever reason.