Opera vs. Firefox

[Assassin7772]

I know this has probably been talked everywhere, but what are your thoughts on Opera and Firefox? I've been using Firefox for a couple of years and yesterday decided to finally download Opera, just to check it out. It's pretty cool, a lot like Firefox but with more options. I also really like the panel and all the options about the websites I visit, like the info thing. It lets me know everything I need to know about the website I'm currently on. Anyway, I know Opera isn't widely used, but why? Is Firefox more stable, or secure? Opera has Adblock and WOT. It has it's own version of NoScript, I don't know about BetterPrivacy but I'm sure it has it's own version of that too. So, which browser is better? I'd really like some facts as well as opinions (I'm sure there'll be a lot of those).

P.S: I know this is off-topic but does CCleaner delete LSOs a.k.a "Super cookie/Flash cookies"?

[GT500]

Opera isn't widely used because back in the days before Firefox, Opera wasn't free. Opera then moved over to offering an ad-supported free version, however once Firefox released Opera's reputation for not being 'free' grew even worse. Once Opera went completely free, the issues narrowed down to the differences between Opera and Firefox. Basically, Opera wasn't Firefox, and Opera Software saw no need to make Opera become Firefox in order to grow their user base, so Opera kept its bad reputation.

Slowly, over the years, Opera Software capitulated to the "it's not Firefox" crowd, and Opera has slowly moved in the direction of mimicking Firefox (and other browsers) in order to grow its market share. After Jon von Tetzchner stepped down as the CEO of Opera Software on January 5, 2010, and Lars Boilesen replaced him, the trend grew even worse as the decision to add extensions was finally made. Opera's reputation has gotten better, however to the zealous Firefox fanboys it is still blasphemous for anyone to use a web browser other than Firefox, and Opera is still one of their favorite targets. In fact, before the death of OperaWatch, it was still common for Firefox fanboys such as Asa Dotzler (a bigger liar I have never seen) to post comments on OperaWatch praising Firefox for having the best security track record (even though it is a blatant lie, and anyone who checks the vulnerability report history for Firefox can see that for themselves).

As for Opera today, it does have its issues (such as performance issues caused when the preferences file has been through multiple upgrades from older versions of Opera), however I still consider it the lesser of the evils (the 'evils' I refer to are browsers with extensions API's, which I consider a security vulnerability).

As for listing 'facts', most of the reasons why someone likes one browser over another is personal preference.

As for security vulnerabilities, there are currently no known unpatched security vulnerabilities listed on Secunia for Opera 12, Firefox 14, and Google Chrome 21. Microsoft Internet Explorer 9 is listed as having 1 Secunia advisory listed as 'unpatched', and since Secunia advisories often cover multiple vulnerabilities that means we need to look up the advisory to see what all it covers, and it appears to be two security vulnerabilities that are rated as "Not critical" (which is the minimum rating). Now, out of all of those browsers, we see that Opera 12 has had two advisories which are listed as patched (one advisory was rated as moderately critical and the other was highly critical), Firefox 14 is listed as having had no advisories (which is not surprising since that version was released for desktops on July 17, 2012), Google Chrome 21 is listed as having had 1 advisory which is patched (advisory is rated as highly critical) which is pretty bad considering version 21 of Google Chrome was released on July 31st (two weeks ago), and Internet Explorer 9 is listed as having had 10 advisories of which 9 have been patched (advisory ratings range between not critical and extremely critical).

Looking back at the last version of the three more secure browsers (Opera 11, Firefox 13, and Google Chrome 20) is even more enlightening. Essentially, anyone using Firefox 13 or Google Chrome 20 should update to the latest version immediately. Opera 11 does have an advisory listed as unpatched, but it is rated as "less critical", and the vulnerabilities that it lists are far more difficult (although not impossible) to exploit. Updating is still recommended, of course, and even more so for your Java and Flash plugins.

[Assassin7772]

Thanks for the info GT As I write this, I am on Opera 11. So, Opera is still a good browser? I'm not a fan-boy of anything, least of all the browser I use. I use the Opera symbol as my profile pic because I needed a change though I do plan to use another pic soon. The only thing troubling me about Opera is that it'll be kinda hard to find extensions to replace BetterPrivacy and NoScript. I'm sure they are there, I just need to find them. Also, what are the "Elements" that Opera counts before loading a web-page. They appear right on the web address bar and then disappear as soon as they complete. For ex. "2/20". Then when it reaches "20/20" it disappears. Does this have something to do with the fact that web-pages sometimes don't load correctly with Opera? I don't know if this is true but it could be since Opera provides sync with Firefox so that if a web page doesn't load, it'll load it like Firefox does (whatever that means...). Thanks a lot!

[GT500]

Thanks for the info GT As I write this, I am on Opera 11. So, Opera is still a good browser?

The term 'good' can be a bit subjective when it comes to web browsers. Opera supports most of the same standards that Firefox and Chrome do, it tends to have a better security track record than other browsers (or at least it did before they added extensions), it has a ton of built-in features, and its performance is usually among the best in the industry (although that seems to change every time one of the browsers hits a new version). The biggest issue is that, due to the lower market share, many companies don't care about testing their websites in Opera or fixing issues with their websites in Opera, and unfortunately many web developers are still biased against Opera and they don't care about writing code that is compatible with it (which is pretty sad since Opera will usually properly render standards-complaint code without issues).

The only thing troubling me about Opera is that it'll be kinda hard to find extensions to replace BetterPrivacy and NoScript. I'm sure they are there, I just need to find them.

Check out Opera's Add-Ons Page. Everything should be there. Personally, I find it hard to search for what you want on their Add-Ons page, but it is better than nothing.

As for NoScript, there should be an extension for that, however Opera has built-in functionality that can allow you to disable scripts and plugins globally, and then enable then on a per-site basis. You also have per-site content blocking, and various other settings that can be enabled or disabled on a per-site basis (right-click in a website and select "Edit Site Preferences..."). As for privacy, there's the Ghostery extension, however I'm not seeing anything more than that in the junk that came up in a search for 'privacy' on their Add-Ons page.

Also, what are the "Elements" that Opera counts before loading a web-page. They appear right on the web address bar and then disappear as soon as they complete. For ex. "2/20". Then when it reaches "20/20" it disappears. Does this have something to do with the fact that web-pages sometimes don't load correctly with Opera? I don't know if this is true but it could be since Opera provides sync with Firefox so that if a web page doesn't load, it'll load it like Firefox does (whatever that means...). Thanks a lot!

It is counting HTML elements, which are the code that makes up a webpage.

[screen317]

I know this has probably been talked everywhere

You're right. This has been talked about many times.

As such I'm closing the topic.

Also, this is not the place to defame anyone. Any further comments of that nature will be removed and further action may be taken.

Assassin772 also please reduce the size of your signature.