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Opera 8.5 is first of all Opera thus it rocks. The times where some IE specific websites didn't work (and thats the dev's fault), are long gone. Opera 8.5 runs smoother than ever with better controls and even higher reliability than before. And all that without increasing its size!

It may be a bit of a learning curve but it WILL change the way you use the web, and reduce the time you need to find things and resources.

My fav features (there are many so I will focus on those) are: -the integrated Mail client which is everything you could ask from an e-mail client.
-the RSS handler to keep up with news and updates (it can handle zillions of sites with no problems)
-Reliable downloader
-Notes, you can save useful notes on its side bar, very useful when web-searching or for other reasons.
-IRC client if you need to jump on an irc channel from a computer that has nothing installed (not my fav irc client though, but its VERY functional)


Thats all except for the integrated google bar (you can customize this too...) Another future is the level of customization you are allowed to do, you can basically change EVERYTHING. I know those are features for the geeks, but had you the time to get into it you can customize everything in the browser, from the way it feels, renders, searches to... custom java applets running off of it... you name it.

I'll give you that Opera in the past had some trouble with IE specific sites, but it can handle those pretty well. Hopefully even better in the upcoming 9th version.

You think there are not enough Opera users out there? Think again! Opera users don't always IDENTIFY as opera. Thus some Mozilla's and IE's percents are actually opera users that don't ident as Opera or use other proxies.

Lastly, Opera is the most advanced browser and thats a fact! I have nothing against Firefox as long as it keeps on Opera's side as far as standards support. All browsers should support the standards, and effing webmasters should ALL learn to code according to them. To avoid mixups of the past.

Enjoy Opera, BEFORE you make up your mind give it a REAL try, as you can see there is a lot of treasure hidden under the hood!

Added: December 8th 2005

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NOTE: Product reviews are independently written by our members and do not necessarily express the opinions or views of CastleCops.