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or so it seems at first glance.
I've been using MS I.E. 5 and 5.5 since their respective releases, even though I'm far from being a supporter of Microsoft... it's just that Netscape is *such* a dog, and seems to getting WORSE instead of better w/ each new release... and I've tried Opera off and on over the past 3 years or so, but never got into it... it was butt-ugly, for one thing, and not "intuitive" at all, at least for me... so even though it seemed faster than IE 5.5, I passed on it... didn't want to pay for a browser, anyway...
Anyway, IE 5.5 is a fine browser, and since I've been using it for so long I've learned little 'tricks' and picked up hints along the way so I feel really comfortable messing w/ it, changing settings, preferences, advanced options, etc.
*but*
even though IE 5.5 runs circles around Netscape, I have the world's worst dial-up connection, so when I read that the latest flavor of Opera had refined it's "look", "simplicity of use", and was being offered ~~~For Free~~~, I decided to give it a try...
And so far, I'm thinking that I might make the big switch-a-roo... it's WAAAAAAYYYYY faster than anythig else I've tried, they've cleaned up the way it looks, and even though there are lots of things I need to re-learn, such as how to manage my 'Bookmarks' and general use type issues, this thing seems like a winner.
What you DO have to put up w/ using the free version is one smallish banner ad in the top right hand corner; when you register w/ them, the banner ad goes away and you get a taste bigger viewing area.
I'll keep you guys posted as time passes, but this will be the second big change for me internet-wise in a week; I dumped MSN.com as my home page, replacing it w/ :
http://www.refdesk.com/
I should have done something like this years ago, but was finally forced into it by the idiots at Microsoft changing the interface of the MSN home page, and forcing you to register w/ them to customize it. This was done upon the release of Windows XP, the Big Brother of OS's.
A few negatives about Opera 5.12 I've noticed so far is that I've grown totally used to auto-complete for addresses and so forth, and I'm having trouble working w/ the bookmarks, as I mentioned... shoot, I might even be forced to read the instructions... how wimpy.
BTW, the free download is 9.8MB w/ Java, 2.19MB w/o. Opera runs on Windows 95/98/ME/NT4/2000... if you buy it, the cost is $39.00, and there is a 'Educational Discount' for all you students and teachers so the cost to you is $20.00... I'm so cheap I'll probably put up w/ the banner, at least for a while, at least as long as they keep the ads in there tasteful, meaning no flashing lights or bells and whistles.
peace,
.tom
PS I get a strange satisfaction downloading direct competition to Microsoft using their own browser... hehehehehe
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