It's Not Opera, Dad.

     This is the type of person I am; I spend a lot of time and daring searching out the best things in the world (though I am somewhat considerably limited by money in many areas!) and when I discover them, I am almost fanatical in my devotion to them. I choose some things for their uniqueness to me such as the Kansas City Wizards (or Sporting Kansas City, I mean) or the Tampa Bay Buccaneers or Hannover 96.  They certainly couldn't be considered the best in the world by any stretch of even a biased imagination.  But other things, like Mac computers, uhlsport soccer gear or King of Shaves shaving supplies are certainly in the upper echelon of their respective areas of expertise.  All of which brings me to Opera Browser.  The Opera Browser is one of those things that fit into the latter of the two categories. I have been using it since the mid-nineties, back when I actually had to pay for it.  In fact, because of a hard drive failure I purchased it twice!  And its revolutionary features have been ingrained in how I use the Internet. Just how much was revealed to me yesterday.

     I was working on my son's Macbook yesterday and needed to search for a solution to a problem on the Web so, forgetting that I had installed Opera on his Macbook, I clicked on Safari.  Now Safari is a fine browser, just like Firefox or Chrome but its no Opera.  As I began my search with Safari, I clicked in the address field and typed my search question. I hit enter, and much to my shock I was taken to an error page.  My son, seeing my utter confusion, informed me, "It's not Opera, Dad."  Then I remembered, not all browsers measure up to Opera.  Actually, none do.  See, with Opera, I no longer need a separate search field for searches.  I just type it into my address field and to Google I go. (or whatever search engine I prefer) This might not seem like a big deal and I guess on its own it isn't huge but when you spend significant time on the web that takes you around the world in seconds, every second counts and features like this one cuts those seconds and simplifies the whole process.

     This is where the Opera Browser excels.  It has been at the forefront of making this thing we call "surfing the web" a more simple place to live, work and play. If Safari, Firefox or Chrome has it, most likely, Opera was the one who developed it.  And Opera isn't slowing down.  The goal is for this single piece of software to become the only program you will need to have open for all your Internet needs.  It is not there yet, but on the rare occasion that I am forced to use a browser other than Opera I am reminded of how far Opera is on the journey to that goal. And when I am using those "other" browsers and my son sees the look of dismay wash across my face and reminds me, "it's not Opera, Dad" my only response is...no, no it's not.

Opera Unite. The New Web.

Many times there are things that wow and amaze me. Sometimes they make me smile. Sometimes they are things I wish I could use but for one reason or another I can't. Sometimes they are things that, while amazing, they are of no interest or use to me. But every once in a great while something comes along that is not only amazing, but revolutionary and at the same time extremely useful and available for me to use. Today is a day that the latter has come true. Enter: Opera Unite. First, if you don't know what Opera is or are not using it, it is time for you to catch up with the most advanced software in the world, bar none. I have been using Opera since 1996 and I have also tried virtually all other browsers ever made. So I am no newbie to the browser world. Opera is an internet browser. While that doesn't sound terribly exciting, it is also a bit of an understatement. Unfortunately, there isn't a word coined yet that accurately describes what Opera is. Opera is very close to become the only program you will need or use in any of your ventures that include the internet. Opera has desktop versions for both PC and Mac and virtually every web enabled cell phone, smart phone and PDA, including Wii. Opera is a browser but it also is an email client, an rss feed reader, a torrent downloader, a messenger client and a web development tool. No need to have five or more separate programs running, just use Opera. And that was all before Opera Unite. Now you can turn your computer into your own personal web server! That's right. Opera now is a built in web server. You can share any file on your computer directly with out the need to be connected with another server. You can share any photo. You can have friends leave you notes. You can host chats. You can host your own website. You can listen to your own music library from any computer in the world. And you can upload any file to your computer from any computer in the world. I have tried most of these services this afternoon(That's how easy this is!)and they all work flawlessly and securely. They are password protected to your specifications. If you are not grasping what this potentially means, here it is: Soon you may not need an iPod, chat program, net meeting program, file sharing service, or even email. Think about it, a world with no media players, no Skype, no MSN, no Gmail, no Hotmail, no Yahoo! Messenger, no Twitter, no Myspace or Facebook. With Opera Unite, all you need is Opera. Get on board now and step into the future. Download Opera with Opera Unite and start experiencing true freedom on the Web for the first time in history. Oh and did I mention it's FREE? Well, now I did. www.opera.com http://unite.opera.com/ Please use the following link to download. Thanks!! http://my.opera.com/Nyk/affiliate