a new browser VIvaldi

[monkeybrain20122]

That's why I am very interested in a Mozilla project called 'Shumway'. It would provide an open-source replacement to the Adobe plugin by converting flash content to HTML5.

It was a cool idea, but does it even work other than on Mozilla's demo page? I think by the time it is ready flash will be ancient history.

Here is a super amazing Firefox addon to avoid flash for video streaming https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/fir...atch-with-mpv/

[night_sky2]

It was a cool idea, but does it even work other than on Mozilla's demo page? I think by the time it is ready flash will be ancient history.

At this point it's still in the Nightly builds. Last time I heard about it was last February and it only worked on Amazon's product tour videos. But they have a dev, Till Schneidereit working on it full time.
I guess we'll see. It might never come about but then Mozilla seems commited to this project. Adobe Flash may still take quite a lot of time on the desktop to disappear.

See http://www.techtimes.com/articles/33...ox-nightly.htm

Here is a super amazing Firefox addon to avoid flash for video streaming https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/fir...atch-with-mpv/

Sounds interersting. But pretty much all the flash requirements I encounter are covered with the 11.2 plugin (which I keep disabled most of the time for more security).

[Welly Wu]

Vivaldi Technical Preview 4 was released today. Go get it!

[Welly Wu]

No one from the Vivaldi team mentioned a release schedule yet. This software project is kind of up in the air. I do like Vivaldi better than Google Chrome thus far and I think it has more potential to become a game changer in the highly competitive web browser market, but I think that Vivaldi is going to wind up like the old Opera 12 web browser with a few million users worldwide and it won't pose a serious threat to Microsoft Windows Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, or Google Chrome along with Apple Safari. Time will tell.

[monkeybrain20122]

I just don't see the point in this. The are two major ones: Firefox and Chrome (some use Chromium as a replacement), then there is Opera which is kind of like Chromium but more crippled because no access to google's addon ecology, but the interface is nice.

Then there are a few less well known open source browsers on Linux such as Midori which fans vouch for.

So where does it leave Vivaldi which is proprietary but cannot match Chrome in capability and ecology (which Chromium has access to) It kinds of look like a closed source knock off of Opera (closed source) but without the reputation and user base. If I don't mind closed source, the lack of addons, but want a browser with some of Opera's features why not just get Opera?

[benrob0329]

I'm not sure much of any modern day browser is a "game changer"
I like Opera, just not closed source ness...if they we're willing to open source it then I would go for it.

[Welly Wu]

It should be noted that it is extremely challenging for a new startup company that intends to ship a stable software product especially a web browser in this hyper competitive worldwide market has its work cut out for it. Vivaldi is trying to restore some of the features of the old Opera 12 and it wants to create an online community from scratch to boot. The amount of time, money, coding, and advertising that it needs to pull off just to gain a fraction of the current Opera version are staggering when you think about it carefully. Why should someone even consider Vivaldi when Opera already exists? Why switch to it when you have Microsoft Windows Internet Explorer, Google Chrome Mozilla Firefox, and Apple Safari? Yet, it has the potential to be a serious contender in the crowded web browser market in select countries. Vivaldi is innovating and iterating rapidly by restoring features that the current Opera web browser cut out of it years ago. Furthermore, Vivaldi has the potential to be the real power web browser's first choice in terms of unique features and capabilities like stacked tabs or notes and total customization. Moreover, it can create its own thriving ecosystem of web apps, add-ons, extensions, widgets, and plug-ins with a blank canvas and I hope that it offers compatibility with the Google Chrome Web store ecosystem as well in the future since it is built on Chromium technology. Finally, Vivaldi is not encumbered by existing contracts and deals (yet) that force any of its design, features, and capabilities to a specific company or provider. It is clean, sleek, and modern. If the Vivaldi team respects its' users privacy, then this alone could make it a viable alternative to the major established web browsers from the start as an alternative choice. The key is how it plans to create and foster cloud integration within its own ecosystem and how it chooses to deal with major cloud service providers with add-ons, extensions, etc. How does it handle users' data and privacy going forward?

It's all about tradeoffs. I use Google Chrome because Netflix, Hulu, and Spotify Premium support it for GNU/Linux users right out of the box and it took years before Netflix finally budged and caved in. I only need LastPass Premium and Hola! extensions to do my web surfing on the World Wide Web. I don't choose to experiment with a ton of add-ons, extensions, plug-ins, widgets, etc. when using any web browser. Yet, I know that I give up my privacy as a Google customer and user in exchange for Google Drive, GMail, Calendar, YouTube, Contacts, Docs, and search.

I am paying close attention to Vivaldi because it is a new company starting off with a blank canvas. Each new release brings more usability and new features that I look forward to using on a limited basis. It is fresh, bold, and innovative and it appeals to me as a power web surfer. It's fun and exciting to see this company grow with each release version over time. This reminds me of the early days of GNU and Linux when they joined together to ignite a fire that lit up this world decades ago. I'm not saying that Vivaldi has that same future trajectory, but using this software product has the look and feel of fresh ideas and software code flowing in a direction that I can get behind. Take it at face value especially during these technical previews. If you evaluate and analyze it on its own merits and you don't compare it with the major web browsers, then it becomes an interesting project in its own right.

[Frogs Hair]

I like Opera because it has it's own extensions page and isn't dependent on the Chrome web store . Vivaldi worked fine, but plans to add a built in mail client combined with having to use the Chrome web store has dissuaded me from further testing right now.

[Wadim_Korneev]

I believe a lot of you might know it by now, but for those of you who don't know... Vivaldi can install any add-ons from Google Chrome Web Store. You can also manage those extensions on Vivaldi by going to vivaldi://chrome/extensions

[Welly Wu]

Vivaldi Beta is now available to the general public. I downloaded and installed it on my 2015 ZaReason Zeto desktop PC system. It's pretty usable, but please realize that this is unfinished software as of yet. There are a number of weekly images that are pushed out to GNU/Linux and this project seems to be iterating quite rapidly. I am hoping that the Vivaldi team will release their first stable version milestone by the end of this year, but no official release schedule has been announced yet. This is the most interesting web browser that I have seen come into its own fruition in quite some time. It is now my default web browser of choice on Ubuntu 14.04.3 64 bit LTS GNU/Linux. If you are an old Opera 12 web browser fan, then Vivaldi should be right up your alley. It can be customized an infinite number of ways and the speed and performance are second to none. CPU, RAM, and GPU usage seems to be average compared to Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome. It's features rich and packed with advanced capabilities and new ones are being grafted on as time passes on a semi-predictable time table. This is my favorite desktop web browser as it suits me just fine as a power web surfer.