The latest development snapshot of Opera 10.50 brings to the table changes which are bound to increase the browser’s stability and performance. In Build 3271 Opera Software has dealt with cache and GDI issues affecting Opera 10.50 Beta. The Norway-based browser maker made available the latest release for both Windows and Linux/UNIX, promising that a flavor of the browser will be offered to testers by the end of the day. Opera Software remains focused on prioritizing the development of Opera 10.50 for Windows, and as the company warned, the builds for Mac OS X and Linux are running a little behind.

“Our core department has been working on improving Opera's cache, and this is the first build with these updates,” revealed Helge Gjølme, from the Opera Desktop team. “This build should also be more stable on Windows after running a long time due the fixing of a GDI leak which could cause crashes and freezing tendencies.”

Users should keep in mind that Opera 10.50 continues to be pre-release software and as such impacted by a variety of issues, including crashes and data loss. Opera 10.50 is not ready for public release, and end users should stick with version 10.0, which will deliver a superior experience, at least until Opera Software deals with all the issues affecting v10.50.

“The bookmarks might be ignored if you upgrade from older 10.50 builds,” is the only known issue Gjølme revealed for Windows. As far as the changelog is concerned, the Opera developer noted that the browser maker has: “fixed Bug CORE-20540 (Multi Core Cache: Chained Cache); fixed Bug CORE-27589 (doesn't redraw one pixel height when scrolling textarea) and fixed Bug DSK-279299 (Serious GDI leak in Evenes).”

Opera Software is on a roll with the development of the Windows flavor of Opera 10.50, having produced no less than five versions of the browser last week.

The latest development snapshot of Opera 10.50 Beta for Windows is available for download here.