Browser Market Loser Opera Should Be Careful What It Wishes For

The failed Norwegian browser provider, Opera (OPESF.PK), says it is not sure about the Microsoft (MSFT) proposal for a European-Union (EU)-mandated “browser ballot” to be used with Windows 7 as an alleged means to lessen Microsoft (MSFT) Internet Explorer (IE) market power. According to one of the UK information-technology rags (I now can't find the link), Håkon Wium Lie, Chief Technology Officer at Opera, said:

"Opera Software supports the concept of a ballot screen to give users easy access to better browsers. The important question is how this ballot screen is implemented. We are still studying the announcement from the European Commission and will have further comments at a later stage."

Opera of course is the sore browser-market loser that started this whole waste of time and investor value.

I can see why he is withholding comment. The example ballot available on the Microsoft site implies that Opera makes it into an all-important top 5 listing of browsers by “share” (term in Microsoft document) or by popularity (term in EU terminology). But neither “share” nor popularity is defined in the accompanying legal blather that I can see. Nor is the time period being measured. Opera’s “share” at given moments in time by various counts hovers around 1%, a third the size of the fourth place browser, which is of course years behind IE. But Opera could actually be surpassed by Netscape or Mosaic for all I know if some more meaningful cumulative criteria were used. Cumulative usage would seem to be the best metric. For example, if I started with Netscape years ago, I still want to use Netscape.

It would be poetic justice if after this collosal waste of effort the product didn't even make it on to the ballot.

Comments

[Eric1977:]

Interesting then that browser failure Opera makes almost 80 million USD per year. Also Google and Mozilla, obviously both failed browser companies, supported the complaint.

Oct 08 07:43 AM

[shepherd:]

Failed browser company Opera is the number one mobile browser company (ahead of Apple) and it provides the browser in the Nintendo Wii.

Opera has less than 1% of the US market. But its worldwide or European share is high enough to easily make it in the top five. Opera has particular strength in lower bandwidth markets.

Oct 08 09:04 AM

[shepherd:]

By the way, what is "cumulative" share, anyway? Mosaic was discontinued in 1997, Netscape in 2007. How could the browser options include products that don't, in fact, exist?

Checking current usage stats, Opera is comfortably number five worldwide and number three in Europe. The company could also make a good argument that its real numbers are considerably higher. The browser often "spoofs" other browsers to get around sites that require IE or Firefox.

Oct 08 09:33 AM

[madtwnjen:]

Maybe before declaring this company a failed browser company you should take a look at their history of innovation and revenue figures.

Oct 08 12:46 PM

[bigmoney:]

the author doesn't appear to be sophisticated tech guy. IE might be #1 in popularity due to its tight integration in Windows, but it has many seriously negative drawbacks, including security, privacy, performance, and even innovation. The minority browsers out there tend to come up with interesting features, such as tabbed browsing, ad block, flash block, no script, etc. that may or may not ever find their way into IE. And if you want latest IE, it requires downloading patches / Service Packs, that load all sorts of other annoying trojan MS code that you may or may not want.

Oct 10 01:56 PM

[Vilijem:]

Dear Denis,

Sorry, but its completely oposite, not opera but You FAIL! Opera is the most prospective browser, Opera software is a hidden gem in the markets. Sorry to say that, but that how it is. I feel sorry for You cheering for all other junky browsers. If You don

Oct 30 02:32 AM