14 DAY TRIAL // Forget about Opera 9.5, Opera 9.51 Final is now available for download. At the start of July, Opera dropped Release Candidate 3 for Opera 9.5 and indicated that it was moving to the RC4 development milestone ahead of finalizing the first update for version 9.5. As of Build RC3, Opera had introduced tweaks to the browser's installer and to the mechanism which permits users to save everything from websites to images, revealed Claudio Santambrogio, QA Desktop Test Manager. In the end, Opera 9.51 is designed to deal with the plethora of issues that have plagued version 9.5 since its initial release on June 12, 2008.
On July 3, Santambrogio revealed that "we released 9.51 today, which addresses a few security and lots of stability issues. This release is a recommended upgrade for all those running the latest stable releases". Opera 9.51 will resolve problems across not only Windows but also Mac OS X and Linux. Users that are running the gold bits of Opera 9.5 are advised to make the jump to version 9.51 as soon as possible in order to benefit from a much smoother ride.
According to the official change log (Windows, Linux, Mac), version 9.51 introduces a range on enhancements and fixes in areas such as User Interface, Mail/News, Display and Scripting, security, along with miscellaneous improvements, but also Windows-, Linux- and Mac OS X-specific tweaks. Launched just ahead of Firefox 3.0, Opera fails to enjoy the market share of Internet Explorer or the strong community support of Mozilla's open source browser and, as such, the impact delivered by Opera 9.5 was superficial, to say the least.
Opera is without a doubt to the browser market what Linux is to rival operating systems Windows and Mac OS X. With a share of under 1% according to data from Net Applications, Opera seems to be struggling to grab a larger chunk of audience, even though the browser delivers superior standards support compared to Internet Explorer 8 and has features able to rival the competitors' offerings including Firefox 3.0's Awesome Bar.
Opera 9.51 for Windows is available for download here. Opera 9.51 for Linux is available for download here. Opera 9.51 for Mac OS X is available for download here.