Nice!

Opera 8.5! Up until yesterday (yeh, I checked all the download sites), I was using the latest beta of the Opera Browser, version 8.2 (the latest release version was in the 8.0x range). Betaware from Opera has always been, in my experience, better than most beta software, usually more stable than most “final version” MessySoft software.  Heh But when I saw a coupla squibs at NIF, I figured I’d toodle on over and download the latest Opera build. First, of course, was the info that version 8.5 was available (a day after I’d last checked-heh).  And then there was this lil taunt of Mozilla by Symantec: “Mozilla browsers more vulnerable than IE”  Oops. :~) Yeh, well, I don’t much use either Internet Exploder or Firedfox.  A brief changelog of features from Opera 8.02 (the latest release version before yesterday) to 8.5 is available here.  I don’t see a note saying they’ve kept the great Bittorrent support that was improved in 8.2beta, but I’ll check that out later. Something new? No ads. I don’t notice it so much, cos I had simple text ads configured for the upper right-hand corner, but I’m sure I can find use for that tiny lil space.  Otherwise, I’m sure I’ll appreciate the ability to “fix” broken websites’ java on the fly and “User JavaScript, which allows you to apply your own enhancements and fixes to Web pages.” Promises to make visiting some sites less irritating. Heh