If anyone at Opera is reading this:<p>Please open source Carakan and Presto - don't let them rot, and us hackers have what to learn with them (and potentially do with them). GPL is fine, and may let you still monetize it.<p>(And ... it's not like it's giving you any advantage - you've switched away from both)
I'm a big fan of Fastmail, and I'm tentatively excited about this announcement.<p>Missing CardDAV/CalDav sync ability is sorely missing, so it's good to see the developers talking about it.<p>I'd also like to see (and would pay for) options where the data is located in other countries, away from the United States. It's really symbolic, but also practical: I'd like my data closer to where I live.
This is more interesting for what it means for Opera than for what it means to Fastmail. First they abandon their browser engine, now a top-notch webmail offering. What do Opera even offer these days that you can't get elsewhere? What 'long term vision' is Rob speaking of?
During the Opera tenure, FastMail moved to new, larger premises in Melbourne and took on quite a few new staff. They did a lot of work on the My Opera Mail web client, which will hopefully be folded back into the main FM product.<p>They also built-out data centre capacity, including facilities in Iceland.<p>So all around I think FM benefited greatly from the three years under Opera, though I'm not convinced the reverse is true.
Not impressed with Fastmail - I tried their free offer, wasn't impressed, and didn't sign up for the paid service. I've since had over 100 (yup) emails telling me of my "OVERDUE PAYMENT" (the caps are theirs), and they ignore correspondence requesting that they stop. Marketing via harrassment - interesting tactic, and incredibly bad form, IMHO.
I've been a Fastmail user for years, ever since I realized that their web UI was compatible with my Windows Mobile Phone. (pre iPhone era)<p>Here we are now, and the rest of the net has caught up to mobile access, mostly. Though my initial reasons for using Fastmail have become moot points, I'll continue to use my Fastmail accounts with fond memories and hope for improved resistance to governments' exceeding their mandates.
I wonder what "strategic changes" they did at Opera? So far they have shut down all their interesting projects (like Opera Unite), their browser has been highly customizable (the UI, not even needing addons) which was abandoned completely in Opera 15. Now they have some half-assed Chrome clone for Desktop, Coast browser which is also nowhere near final, Opera Mobile (not mini) is getting more and more generic like all other mobile browsers...
I love Fastmail and have been a paid user for many years now, but I hate the new AJAXy interface, in particular the infinite scroll as currently implemented. Slow, annoying, and makes it difficult to reach old emails.
I'm looking forward to better mobile support. Currently I can't sync contacts at all because the only Android LDAP contacts app seems not to be purchasable.
the most annoying thing about fastmail is their high cost for storage. their new web-based client is top-notch performance-wise. a lot better than gmail.
Is FastMail a joke? I get more storage for free at dropbox and sugarsync. What exactly is this service bringing to the table? It feels like a 1998 business model to me...