Many are giving up Opera due to the shortcomings of the present state of the so-called "Opera Next"

This thread is to inform us on how the Opera Browser develops.

Opera posted an article about how they make Chromium better: https://dev.opera.com/blog/reducing-memory-use/

Bruce Lawson? The guy who said the move to Blink would be "only under the hood" and unnoticeable to users? And who said that after layoffs they have more developers than ever? Might be an interesting read.

         
"only under the hood" - I think I missed that one - and funny as it may sound now, i think it would have gained (+/-) me some insanity(Cthulhu)/empathy(cyberpunk)/whatsoever(choseUownRPG) points if I wouldn't 

Might be an interesting read.

Indeed.
Reducing Blink's memory footprint by 5-6 MB will make it rock on older computers - according to Bruce Lawson at least. 
Another informative highlight of the article are the rainforests in Poland. 

Bruce Lawson? The guy who said the move to Blink would be "only under the hood" and unnoticeable to users? And who said that after layoffs they have more developers than ever? Might be an interesting read.

To be fair, that is mostly correct and technically correct respectively. The UI/UX is more important than the engine, and until the latest layoffs the total number of developers may have been increasing, but the number of developers in Norway and Sweden has diminshed. The number of employees is increasing:

2000: 25→100
2008: ≈500
2013: ≈1000
2015: ≈1500

But the proportion of developers I believe has fallen significantly (and the browser is getting less significant as well).

I still use the 12.16, the end of an era.
Sometimes, like this one, I simply prefer to use the 30, enough for what I want browsers to do these days.

I find myself using Opera/Blink as well, simply because it is sometimes superior to Firefox and for the moment easier to get to work than Otter.

Ruari is now working for Vivaldi. I don't keep a close eye on Twitter or Vivaldi, so I hadn't noticed yet.

Anyone following my twitter account or the Vivaldi team blog has probably worked out that I have left Opera and started working for Vivaldi. If you missed the news, the short version is that Opera shutdown the Oslo office working on the desktop browser. Most people were laid off. A small handful were offered alternative jobs. Even amongst those of us who were offered a new position -- I was one of them -- several have subsequently quit of their own accord.

[...] Vivaldi [...]

Chromeless UI in Vivaldi? This is what Opera's True Detach ingeniously provided. If/When Otter implements true detach, it will be unbeatable.

I have been trying my best to replicate the true detach experience with small vim-like browsers. It kinda works, but it's of course much comfier to be able to switch all toolbars on-off in your main browser.

Since Vivaldi doesn't adopt proper decorations from the desktop environment, the feature cannot work quite the way it used to in Opera, and not the way I use it.

The way I use it is to set up, in a GUI-less browser, a small frame with the content I need to keep an eye on, and to otherwise work in a maximised editor window. So, the small frame must be set to the top layer above other windows. It's more convenient to do this when the frame has decorations proper to the desktop environment, so you get the feedback that (a) it's a window, not a nasty visual tear on the screen, (b) it's indeed set above other windows, assigned to all workspaces, or whatever else you can/want to set&see on the titlebar. Plus quick minimising via the titlebar.

It's all on the titlebar. Cannot live without it.

Ruari is now working for Vivaldi. I don't keep a close eye on Twitter or Vivaldi, so I hadn't noticed yet.

How many old Opera employees are left now?

It used to be that the people I knew that were Opera employees and  ex-employees were evenly matched but now the Opera remainers are in a distinct minority. Hiring and firing sprees were not unheard of, but had sound reasons,  the company was near-broke at the firing line. The sack of Oslo happened at a time of record profit. I don't think the remaining veterans are particularly loyal to the company anymore.

How many old Opera employees are left now?

We have the Jon smiley, but we don't have :norris: ?

I think it was removed from My Opera at least a year or two before it closed.

Bruce Lawson responds to a recent post by ppk.
https://dev.opera.com/blog/on-a-moratorium-on-new-browser-features/

And so it ended...

Directors of Norwegian browser maker Opera Software said that they were considering selling the company and had hired bankers to help them explore options after the firm missed a second-quarter revenue forecast.

[...]

On mobile, Opera's browsers, including its Opera Mini -- which years ago was a stalwart on feature phones -- had a share of around 6%, far below either Safari on iOS (with a 42.4% share) and Google's Chrome on on Android (33.2%).

There were several rumors in the past but this time it seems to be for real.
Lars Boilesen accomplished the mission he was hired for.

Opera celebrates 20 years.

http://blogs.opera.com/news/2015/08/20-years-of-more-happy-anniversary-opera/

And so it ended...

The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated... well, it seems not.

Opera is finally reintroducing the idea of installable web apps.

https://dev.opera.com/articles/installable-web-apps/

Opera Link will cease operations. I just received the following e-mail:

It's time to say goodbye to our old friend Opera Link.

In March, we introduced a new way to sync data in the latest versions of Opera for computers, Android, and iOS. The shift to our new syncing service allowed us to streamline and update the types of browsing data you can sync across your computers, phones and tablets.

**Opera Link will close in December 2015.**

At that time, you will no longer be able to synchronize your browsing data using the Opera Link service. Also, you will no longer be able to access your data through the Opera Link web interface at link.opera.com.

December brings the end of Opera Link, but not the end of syncing your data using your favorite browser. Download the new Opera, and, depending on your devices, you can sync your bookmarks, Speed Dials, open tabs, browsing history, settings and passwords.

Making the switch is easy:

1. Navigate to www.opera.com to download and install a new Opera browser.

2. Use your Opera Link username and password to sign into the new sync service, or set up a new account entirely. You can read more about how at www.opera.com/help/account#signIn.

3. After you've registered your new account, use our migration tool to move your old Opera Link bookmarks to your new browser. You can find the tool at sync.opera.com/web/.

If you can not upgrade to the new browser or do not wish to, your local data will remain on your machine but will not update on the Opera Link server. We recommend that you migrate your bookmarks, so you can still access them through our new service's web interface. You can find the migration tool at sync.opera.com/web/.

We hope you enjoy the updated set of syncing services offered in our newest generation of browsers.

Thanks for choosing Opera,
The Sync team

I migrated, but I don't think it copied over my nicknames nor did it seem to do anything with my numerous search engines. Which is weird, because Opera/Blink did pick up on search engines locally... or at least Opera Mini did. Suffice it to say I still find Opera Sync very disappointing compared to Link.

Wow! They are still dismantling old features from the Presto days.

... which I still use a lot.
I received that, too. I was confident that I could always recover my Opera preferences by Link after successive system reinstalls. But now I'll have to keep them saved somewhere else. 

I wish they'd been a little bit more specific about the date. Does "in December" mean in a few days or does it mean in a month?

Opera's history is a sad one. What a wonderful browser they had once and a fantastic community.

Chinese investors snap up Norwegian internet firm

A Chinese investment firm is to buy Norwegian company Opera Software in a deal worth $1.2bn.

Golden Brick Silk Road, a Chinese investment fund, is leading a consortium composed of Chinese internet firms Kunlun and Qihoo, to buy Oslo-headquartered Opera. They have offered NKr71 per Opera share, a premium of around 53 per cent to Opera's closing price on February 4, just before reports of a takeover emerged.

Opera specialises in providing services for apps and web browsers. It said its board has "unanimously decided to recommend to its shareholders to accept the Offer" from Golden Brick.

Opera chief executive Lars Boilesen said:

There is strong strategic and industrial logic to the acquisition of Opera by the Consortium. We believe that the Consortium, with its breadth of expertise and strong market position in emerging markets, will be a strong owner of Opera. The Consortium's ownership will strengthen Opera's position to serve our users and partners with even greater innovation, and to accelerate our plans of expansion and growth.

Well, that's interesting.