Opera

Opera is a web browser developed by Opera Software AS. Starting from 2013, it is based on the open-source Chromium project and thus uses the Blink rendering engine.

Editions and features
Opera is available in a few different editions:
 * Opera browser: The stable edition of Opera intended for use of the public. Includes ad blocker, VPN service, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger and Instagram integration (desktop only), as well as a Speed Dial and a QR Code scanner (mobile only). With the Flow feature, users can send webpages and messages from the desktop version of Opera to the Opera Mobile browser and vice versa. For Linux, macOS, Android, iOS, iPadOS, and Windows.
 * Opera beta: Same as the stable version but with decreased stability and reliability. Previously called Opera Next.
 * Opera developer: Only intended for experimental use (Early Adopters), as this edition has the fewest stability. For macOS, Linux and Windows.
 * Opera Mini: Lightweight edition of the Opera browser for Android with a focus on saving mobile data. No VPN service.
 * Opera Mini Beta: Pre-release edition of the aforementioned Opera Mini.
 * Opera GX: see sub-article on this page
 * Opera Neon: Concept browser with a completely different UI. Development ceased.
 * Opera Touch: A smartphone-optimized edition of Opera for iOS and Android released in 2018. It's main feature is the "Fast Action Button", which is the main control center of the browser and features one-handed navigation, and a QR code scanner. The former can also be disabled to force a navigation design similar to other browsers. On March 22, 2021, the iOS version of Opera Touch was rebranded as Opera, removing Touch from the name and replacing the Opera Touch branding with the standard Opera branding.
 * Internet Channel: see sub-article on this page
 * Opera Crypto: see sub-article on this page

Opera also created versions of the Opera Mini and Mobile browsers for other mobile operating systems such as Windows Mobile, Windows Phone and Blackberry OS. Development has since ceased for the aforementioned operating systems.

History
Opera 2.0 was the first version of the browser released to the public. Its predecessor, MultiTorg Opera 1, was only intended for internal usage. Users of Windows NT 3.x must use the 16-bit version of Opera for Windows 3.62, which was the last 16-bit version of Opera and thus also the last one to work on Windows 3.1.

Until Opera 5.0, the browser was available free as a 30-day trial. After the trial expired, the user was forced to pay for the browser to continue using it. With Opera 5.0, released in 2000, the browser was no longer tied to a trial. It has become free to use, however it showed banners with either text-based personalized ads by Google (which was an option in a later release) or a stock banner of Opera Software to pay for the ad-free edition.

Opera 8.5 removed the ads and was the first version to be offered completely free.

Opera 9 was the base for the Internet Channel on the Nintendo Wii.

Opera 12 was the first version available natively for 64-bit Windows and OS X. A native port for 64-bit Linux was already available prior.

In 2012, Opera announced plans to rebuild the browser using Chromium and its the WebKit engine, and thus to stop development of their own proprietary Presto engine. Later, the Chromium development team decided to fork WebKit as Blink. The "new" Opera was released in 2013 and was criticized for its lack of the ability of customization, as well as the lack of an native 64-bit version for Windows, since Chromium was not available natively for 64-bit Windows until 2014. The first native 64-bit version of Chromium-based Opera for Windows was released in late 2016. Opera still continued to maintain the older Presto-based browser with security patches until 2016 with the release of version 12.18. Although 12.18 was released after the release of Windows 10 and Windows 8.1, it identifies both OS's in the About tab as Windows 8 (NT 6.2).

Opera GX
Opera GX is an edition of the Opera browser optimized for gaming. It was announced on 11 June 2019. Version 60.0.3255.50747 of the aforementioned date is the initial release of Opera GX for Windows, version 68.0.3618.206 of 23 July 2020 for macOS. Opera GX for Linux is still in development as of 2023. On 19 May 2021, Opera GX version 1.0.0 has been launched for Android and iOS. Unlike the Desktop versions, it is not based on the main Opera product. Instead it is based on Opera Touch, a smartphone-oriented edition of Opera. Opera GX requires at least Android 7.1, macOS 10.13 High Sierra or Windows 7/Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 and later. It has features that allows the user to control the CPU and the RAM usage of the browser which makes it ideal for gamers.

Internet Channel
The Internet Channel was a version of the Opera web browser based on version 9 designed for the Nintendo Wii by Opera Software and Nintendo. Internet Channel uses an internet connection (set in the Wii Settings) to retrieve pages directly from a web site's HTTP or HTTPS server, not through a network of proxy servers as in Opera Mini products. Internet Channel was capable of rendering most web sites in the same manner as its desktop counterparts by using Opera's Medium Screen Rendering technology for its time.

Opera Crypto
Since January 2022, Opera Software has been developing a browser specifically aimed for the crypto community. Currently only available for Windows, macOS and Android, it is also in an early state, as its base are Opera developer builds. Features are a Crypto Corner with the latest crypto news and currency states, as well as a Crypto Wallet, making this browser a competitor to Brave.