Updated Sep 30 with instructions for adding custom search engines
I began surfing the Net with Netscape Navigator then moved on to Off By One in 2002 and switched to Phoenix the next year. Since then, I’ve been using one form of Firefox or another. I’ve used Internet Explorer, and I still continue to use it to update Windows XP, but it will never be my main browser. I’ve also tried K-Meleon briefly but it wasn’t to my taste.
I tried Opera on my old system and was suitably impressed with it. However, as I’ve mentioned before, I’m a creature of habit and I was quite used to Firefox and its conventions. Switching over to a new browser and investigating how to adapt it to fit my tastes and quirks seemed like too much unnecessary work.
But when I thought about it, there wasn’t really a single compelling reason to continue using Firefox. (Sticking it to The Man is not a compelling reason.) Nor was there a single compelling reason not to use Opera. There were actually many good reasons why I should choose Opera over Firefox and I felt I should, at the very least, give Opera a try.
Opera may do things slightly differently but, who knows, perhaps those different ways might prove to be (gasp!) superior.
The browser is a free download and it’s no longer ad-supported. The current version, 9.23, is a 4.6MB download and version 9.5 is coming soon.
I’ll update this entry as I get used to the browser and I hope to eventually update it with tweaks and such.
