Opera: Microsoft's browser ballot has tripled our downloads

[tyler811]

Opera has reportedly witnessed an influx of downloads since the introduction of Microsoft's browser ballot to Europe two days ago. After the rollout, Opera downloads more than tripled in major European countries, such as Belgium, France, Spain, Poland, and the UK, according to Rolf Assev, Opera's chief strategy officer.

Microsoft introduced the ballot to appease EU regulators after rival browser makers (including Opera and Google) complained that Redmond had an unfair advantage by preinstalling Internet Explorer on every Windows PC. The ballot randomly sorts the five most popular browsers (Safari, Chrome, Firefox, Opera, and IE) and lets users pick which they want to install.

http://www.techspot.com/news/38094-opera-microsofts-browser-ballot-has-tripled-our-downloads.html

 

[StageLeft]

opera lol. chrome ftw

 

[Mike Gayner]

From 3 downloads to 9? Seriously, who the shit uses Opera?

 

[Matthiasa]

I do, probably the best browser I haved used...


For sites that are actually coded properly.

 

[tyler811]

From 3 downloads to 9? Seriously, who the shit uses Opera?

I had Opera on my Motorola V551 for net use. It worked better then the browser that came with the phone.

 

[dwell]

But. But. Opera invented tabbed browsing!

 

[Tristicus]

Opera sucks. Firefox is a real browser.

 

[lxskllr]

I like Opera. It's probably my second favorite browser, but I seldom use it. I'm in Firefox almost 100% of the time.

 

[QueBert]

opera lol. chrome ftw

chrome lol. Safari ftw

 

[StrangerGuy]

Since I switched over to Win 7, I never bothered using Opera like I did before and stuck with IE8 all along. Can't say I missed Opera.

 

[Tristicus]

chrome lol. Safari ftw

I'd rather use the internet on my Voyager for the rest of my life.

 

[Anubis]

From 3 downloads to 9? Seriously, who the shit uses Opera?

ive used nothing but Opera since you actually had to pay for it. So something like 8 years

there is 1 site that i have to visit once a month that it doesn't play well with, thats it.

 

[Shawn]

From 3 downloads to 9? Seriously, who the shit uses Opera?

Pretty much. Firefox has tons of addons and Chrome has speed. Why even bother with Opera?

 

[0roo0roo]

who the f*ck cares anyways. how does anyone using opera affect me.

anyways does the ballot let you choose them all at once?

 

[lxskllr]

anyways does the ballot let you choose them all at once?

It shows all the major browsers, and the customer picks one. I don't know if you can pick more than one, but they're easy enough to find and download if wanted.

 

[QueBert]

I'd rather use the internet on my Voyager for the rest of my life.

Good for you, personally I like to use the fastest browser that does the best job at rendering the pages correctly. And that's Safari. But go ahead and use a slower browser that's less accurate.

 

[KeithTalent]

chrome lol. Safari ftw

Ugh, I'd rather not use the internet at all than use Safari. :thumbsdown:

KT

 

[QueBert]

Ugh, I'd rather not use the internet at all than use Safari. :thumbsdown:

KT

Safari opens pages faster than any other browser and scores perfectly on the Acid3 test. Chrome is close but it doesn't quite hit 100 on all the tests. Why wouldn't you want to use the best browser? Chrome is based off the same engine, but it's not as polished, yet people who hate Safari seem to go ape shit over Chrome, I just don't get it.

 

[0roo0roo]

It shows all the major browsers, and the customer picks one. I don't know if you can pick more than one, but they're easy enough to find and download if wanted.

if its just one thats just plain stupid, you need more than one just in case your main browser takes a dive.

 

[KeithTalent]

Safari opens pages faster than any other browser and scores perfectly on the Acid3 test. Chrome is close but it doesn't quite hit 100 on all the tests. Why wouldn't you want to use the best browser? Chrome is based off the same engine, but it's not as polished, yet people who hate Safari seem to go ape shit over Chrome, I just don't get it.

I'm not a huge fan of Chrome either; I like my Firefox. Tests are all fine and dandy, but in practical usage Safari was shit every single time I used it.

KT

 

[mugs]

Ugh, I'd rather not use the internet at all than use Safari. :thumbsdown:

KT

I don't use Safari myself, but do you know anything about Safari other than that it's made by Apple?

Edit: I see you have apparently used it. I've never had any problem with it, and it is faster than Firefox (and I still have to restart Firefox every once in a while due to it consuming absurd amounts of memory or CPU time, even with 3.5). The only reason I don't use Safari is because my favorite password manager works better in Firefox.

I used Chrome when it first came out and don't really see the appeal.

 

[Fritzo]

This is why. Internet Explorer comes by default on grandpa's computer. He then starts installing FREE WALLPAPER! FREE HALMARK CARDS!!!! FREE PORN!!!!. Internet Explorer gets gummed up with My Web Search, Super AntiSpyware 2010, Vundo, and any other bug he feels like he's getting something free for.

After a week of popups, grandpa starts saying things like "That damn Bill Gates- his crap don't work! What a piece of junk!" They then think that an alternate browser will help them, and start using Opera, Firefox, Chrome, etc.

 

[rcpratt]

I almost exclusively use firefox, but I found this an interesting read - http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/firefox-chrome-opera,2558.html

Still not ready to give up the versatility of my ff addons for chrome's speed.

 

[Fritzo]

Safari opens pages faster than any other browser and scores perfectly on the Acid3 test. Chrome is close but it doesn't quite hit 100 on all the tests. Why wouldn't you want to use the best browser? Chrome is based off the same engine, but it's not as polished, yet people who hate Safari seem to go ape shit over Chrome, I just don't get it.

Safari has issues with about 50% of the apps we use, yet Firefox, Chrome, IE, and Opera work fine. What's up with that?

 

[zerocool84]

Safari has issues with about 50% of the apps we use, yet Firefox, Chrome, IE, and Opera work fine. What's up with that?

because it's Apple and they have their own way of doing everything and if it doesn't work with an Apple product, it's never Apple's fault cus they're perfect