Opera was once a community-driven cutting edge browser that, while still losing out in terms of popularity, was one of the most impressive web browsers out there. In recent years, however, Opera has fallen hard which is why its original founder decided to leave a few years ago. Now he’s back with an entirely new browser that he hopes will be everything that Opera was supposed to.
Four years ago, John S. Von Tetzchner parted ways with Opera, the company he helped build from the ground up. Now he’s back, and he’s helping build a new browser that’s aimed at power users (read: geeks) called Vivaldi. The browser certainly looks a lot like Opera, and you’d probably expect that given that it’s named after one of the most prolific opera composers of all times. Vivaldi is also already loaded with features that will resonate with Von Tetzchner’s Opera faithful. The Speed Dial, possibly Opera’s most recognizable feature, is waiting for you on Vivalvdi’s new tab page. The Panels bar is there, hosting icons for Vivaldi’s other functions. Like Opera back in the day, those will eventually include a mail client (also coming: sync and extension support). Right now, the notes, contacts, downloads, and bookmarks panels are functional.
