i don't want to switch; i still use the old version, i think, and i will wait for another browser like the old opera, because we are giving another new browser opportunities to take the market from opera users.
there are already plenty of browsers that deliver "the core experience of web browsing"; the only reason to prefer opera was that it delivered more than that. if you cut out the extra features, all you're left with is a less-popular, less-supported browser that's no better than any other. what's the point of that?
rest in peace.
i won't switch because i think opera did the right thing. as a web designer experimenting a lot with css3 and html5 features, i am especially happy to see the performance increase. for example, things like text/box-shadows or alpha-transparent pngs could lead to heavy performance issues when combined with css animations and transitions - even on powerful systems. so i feel that this is an important step in the right direction.
however, i really hate that so much of the current opera next version is a copy of the chrome browser. for instance, i can't stand the minimalistic preferences site that looks like it is just copied and pasted from chrome. it looks like it is built for people who don't have a clue about anything, and that developers have feared that consumers will be confused and start breaking stuff when too many options are presented. so many useful options are missing in the current opera next release, and they are very important to me.
basically, what i want to say is that the only thing i truly want from chrome is the rendering engine - the way how websites are displayed (even though there was nothing wrong with presto, just too many lazy web developers ignored it because of the low market share). anything other than that - including the browser's very basic processing architecture - should be exactly the same as we know it from opera 12.
i know that this is hardly possible, but i believe you guys will find the right compromise and that you will manage to reduce the chromification to the possible minimum. good luck!
farewell!!!
i always preferred opera to other browsers since opera's ui handled multiple tabs and cache better than other browsers. it is regrettable that you decided to throw away your major selling point.
it was a good time. thanks so far. it will still be a good time until 12.15 becomes unusable. but then... i hope you'll do new stuff :)