Opera Is Dead, Desktop Browser Replaced with Chromium, WebKit on Mobile

On par with Yandex and Comodo.... jeez.... with Comodo Browser? really? Opera has fallen really low.

The article sums up very well what I think.

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-

seriously... I love Opera on the desktop as it is now, faster than any other browser, lighter on memory than any other browser and with a VERY CONFIGURABLE speed dial on the new tab page unlike Chrome

this sucks

I agree on you with the last part, though. This is also my favorite browser... it will be a shame see it go.

But regarding weight, memory consumption, and speed, it is not. Even the Gecko engine (Firefox built-in) has surpassed the Presto Engine (according to my senses) and can handle intensive JavaScript pages better than Presto.

Don't think that Opera will simply become in another clone, they may add their unique and great feature to this new browser version. People behind Opera has proved they're innovative, they created things that later appeared in FireFox and developed features that nobody else dared to use on their browsers.

While used Opera I always found this problem of compatibility with many websites and that was my reason to use FireFox, but FF is uncomfortable and the version I'm using has problems with Javascript and Shockwave, then I discovered Comodo Dragon (Chromium based) and it's my main browser right now.

If Opera is adopting Chromium for good, they will create new features and add their old and great features to its new project, if not, well, you can say they're dead.

Instead of stopping development opera could have made its software open source. I like opera. I feel sad now.

Chrome is not "the open source version of Chrome". Chrome is Google's derivative of Chromium. Correct credit where credit is due....

Google builds Chromium and it builds it with Google Chrome in mind. The fact that it's called Chromium in the early stages of development doesn't change anything, anything that gets added, gets added to benefit Chrome. Chromium was even launched several months after Chrome.

Beaten your fans hands down. May be move is profitable for company but what about developers and trusted users base? Only option is left for loyal users to go for FF. Good bye OPERA.

What the hell happened exactly ?

Lot 666. The phantom of the Opera. Sold! Your number, sir? 1.0 x 10^100

They betrayed us...

As long as they don't * down the UI like all the other "chrome" browsers, they should be able to retain their user base. Otherwise there's no reason to stay with Opera.

* this the saddest thing i ever read *

I think this news isn't correct. Opera as an official software is still active and the downloads on their official website are still in place. Tell me if I'm wrong !

Opera did'nt switch to webkit yet. It has just planned to switch. It may take it an year or so for Opera to completely switch to Webkit.
It has already rolled out a Webkit version of its mobile browser on iOS.

Opera said that they'll be moving to Webkit over the course of the year and that they'll start with their new mobile browser "Ice" in the next couple of months; desktop versions will come later.

I have to say, I am really put off by this. What will happen to the integrated M2 mail client? The tab stacking? Speed dial? Integrated RSS? Customizable UI? If Opera just uses the Webkit engine and keeps it's UI and features (like Safari does), then I don't think the move wil be *that* bad.

But the way Opera worded the press release, it sounds like it will be another rebranded spin-off of Chromium, like Yandex, SRWare Iron and Comodo Dragon.

Et tu, Opera?

The least we can do now is try to convince Opera to open source Presto (the rendering engine), Carakan (the javascript engine) and Vega (the SVG engine).
Petition to open source Presto:
https://www.change.org/petitions/opera-software-open-sources-of-presto-engine#share

What a terrible article. Yes, Opera is going to utilize Webkit for layout purposes and Chromium's V8 engine for javascript performance. No, the browser is not dead. In fact, the development team has outright stated that they are abandoning Presto to focus on Opera's UI and remain innovative, while still adhering to web standards. Opera will most likely NOT look like a Chrome / Chromium clone once fully ported.

Agreed. The webkit rendering engine has nothing to do with the higher-level UI components (configuration, handling multiple browser "tabe", etc.). This seems like a positive move, to prevent fracturing browsers further. Now if only Firefox would move to webkit, all would be good ;-).

One misconception with webkit is that it provides a common interface across platforms for brwosers to use. This is not so. Webkit is a big bundle of a mess of code that is bloated and has very different implementations across platforms. There is a GTK imlpementation, Windows implementation, an iOS version, and google's own implementation for both the HTML rendering and javascript interpretation. What this means is that it is possible and in fact likely for different behaviors to exist on webkit installed in different platforms. The real work is to get rid of the overly complicated Google V8 javascriptengine and use the cleaner API that existed before and to start truly abstracting out the areas and allow a greater sense of commonality across platforms.

I certainly hope you are right about the UI. But in Opera's press release (http://bit.ly/YcgVfQ), the third paragraph reads:

"To provide a leading browser on Android and iOS, this year Opera will make a gradual transition to the WebKit engine, as well as Chromium, for most of its upcoming versions of browsers for smartphones and computers."

The part that worries me is "transition to the WebKit engine, as well as Chromium". I suppose we'll have to see what Opera comes up with. Who knows, it may end up being the best version yet...

The only rendering engine which doesn't have features like unloading the half of the page, causing render errors, being slow and laggy+ugly on mobiles was presto. I use it everyday, on Symbian, Maemo, and Android. It has no competitirs, and even HTML5 capabilites are good. But the "new" opera, from play store is the wors thing I've ever used. Laggy, uses high amount of CPU and RAM. Ugly rendering, slow, and uncomfortable UI.
Opera, worth it? That was a really bad decision...

Opera browser isn't the browser that it was in the past reliable and stable ! Today Opera browser can not handle opened web pages, for years now chokes, agressive polutes RAM and then crash ! I can hardly wait for Opera chrome with native mht support otherwise useless ! Mht for chrome as extension sucks and does not work ! I only hope that browser keeps slim and extreme fast otherwise also useless !

"After almost two decades in the browser business, Opera has officially quit."

They haven't quit the browser business. They're going to stay in the browser business, but use Blink to do it. When I decided to port my website to WordPress from my own crappy templating system, I "quit" working on my crappy templating system, but I didn't quit making websites.

Saying "Opera Is Dead" is a bit sensationalist, don't you think?

Slapping an Opera badge on Chromium doesn't make it Opera. Just because something continues in name doesn't mean it's not dead. That's true for both the company and the browser.
Still, maybe there's some hope yet with Blink, maybe Opera will truly focus on innovations in the browser and how we interact with it, now that it doesn't have to worry about the engine so much. We'll see.

This is sensationalism if I ever saw it. So anything that uses Webkit is now Chrome?

I remind you that this category of so-called 'Chrome clones' includes many browsers that have a life of their own, including Safari, Maxthon, most Android browsers and EVERY iOS browser. Never mind that half of these preceded Chrome.

Moreover the end user doesn't give a damn about what rendering engine it uses. They're more likely to care about the UI, and whether it has a private browsing mode for pr0n.

I think you're confusing Chrome with WebKit or at the very least using the two terms interchangeably. A Chrome clone is not any browser that uses WebKit and that's certainly not what I said.
However, if Opera plans to grab Chromium entirely, do some minor cosmetic modifications and call it a day, then it will be a Chrome clone, the likes of Yandex browser and others.
The WebKit discussion is moot anyway, since Opera has already said that it will be using Google Chrome's Blink and not WebKit.
It remains to be seen whether Opera will only use Blink, a layout engine, and V8, the JavaScript engine, and build the rest, or the entire Chromium source code, Opera hasn't said much one way or the other.

this articles writer is stupid, opera definitely is not gonna clone chrome , its using webkit engine in order to be reduce difference in rendering javascript and html which makes developers have less problem with testing different browsers with different engines.
and it will keep on its work and surely not dead.
btw, Lucian Parfeni (writer of this article) youre an idiot who likes to make opera fans sad