CompetitiveWeeklyRoundup
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« CompetitiveBrowserDevelopment
This weekly roundup page contains notes of some of the most important browser developments that come through the competitive tracking feeds. The same information is sent out in a weekly email to marketing-private.
Contents
Friday, September 7, 2007
- Opera 9.5 alpha was released
- Results from speed and performance testing between browsers; Firefox 3 was included in these tests.
- Highlighted new features include:
- Synchronize your bookmarks, Speed Dials, and Personal toolbar across multiple computers
- Full history search: search the complete content of the webpages you visited directly from the URL toolbar
- New ECMAscript (JavaScript) engine
- Rumor about the Googlephone OS
- There is a possibility that the Googlephone’s web browser will be based on WebKit
- It would be interesting if Google were to enter into direct competition with Apple in the smartphone space
- Opera Mini’s growth over the past 5 months
- Opera Mini has more than doubled its market share in the past 5 months (according to HitsLink)
Friday, August 31, 2007
- Opera reaches milestones with mobile browser and provides browser technology for Sony’s new BRAVIA Internet Video Link
- Opera Mini users browsed close to 1 billion pages last month
- List of phone with Opera Mini pre-installed and distribution partners
- Opera has been selected for Sony’s new BRAVIA Internet Video Link
- Enables browsing of the available Internet video content that can be streamed directly to the TV from Yahoo, AOL and Crackle
- Safari’s found incompatibilities:
- Safari doesn’t support gChat
- Yahoo has still not added Safari 3 support to the new, Ajaxy version of its webmail
- This webmail version has been in beta for a long time and is supposed to remove the beta qualifier soon.
Friday, August 24, 2007
- A word about marketing at Opera:
- Highlights from a list of things Opera is doing to promote its browser:
- reviving developer outreach efforts
- make development process of the browser more open to followers
- producing more videos (tutorials and online ads)
- attend conferences and events
- “Opera Backstage” events to have Opera-user get-togethers
- an entire PR department
- website redesigns
- a couple localized versions of website
- outreach on social networking sites
- Highlights from a list of things Opera is doing to promote its browser:
- New Opera Partnerships: NetApplications and Fluffy Spider Technologies
- NetApplications partnership gives Opera users access to track stats on blogs, photo albums, etc.
- Fluffy Spider Technologies (FST) – provider of software development platforms for advanced GUIs in embedded devices
- Opera has shipped on almost 100 million mobile phones
- I have started a section on the Competitive Browser Development wiki page for Netscape Navigator. Currently, much of Navigator 9.0b3 feels like Firefox 2, including the user interface employed to download and install add-ons.
Friday, August 17, 2007
- Netscape Navigator 9.0 beta 3 highlighted feature list: http://blog.netscape.com/2007/08/15/netscape-navigator-9-beta-3-released/ and http://browser.netscape.com/features
- FF2 Extension – install any Firefox 2-compatible extension
- Vote – share interesting stories and vote on stories submitted by other
- URL correction – corrects common typos in Web addresses
- Link Pad – holding area for interesting links that don’t merit bookmarking
- Sidebar – use the sidebar as a “mini browser”
- Within the week, I will be adding a Netscape section on the wiki page for Competitive Browser Development: http://wiki.mozilla.org/CompetitiveBrowserDevelopment
- Opera requested feedback on its website. (http://operawatch.com/news/2007/08/feedback-request-what-should-we-do-to-enhance-operas-website.html) I have compiled some of the requests:
- include more screenshots (users want to know what it looks like before downloading)
- popular request was to include video tutorials
- "I’m surprised Firefox’s product page doesn’t include a link to spreadfirefox. Make sure Opera DOES include a link to my.opera and chooseopera.”
- emphasize fact that it’s easy to switch browsers
- place download link on the homepage
- translate the page into more languages
- “opera needs to make site like mozilla addons”
- several comments voted to put the Opera ninja somewhere on the front page
Friday, August 10, 2007
- New Training and Whitepaper on IE 7 Security Now Available
- Companies have had many questions about deploying and securing IE7 on the desktop
- Microsoft released an Internet Explorer Desktop Security Guide that discusses many of the new security features along with recommended settings
- PithHelmet 2.7 beta released
- PithHelmet adds content filtering (ads, flash, shockwave, midi loops, etc.) to the Safari browser
- This version was engineered specifically to work with the Safari 3 betas
Friday, August 3, 2007
- Windows Vienna and IE 8 features leaked
- IE 8
- Undo close tab (like Firefox)
- Saving and restoring sessions (like Firefox)
- Windows Vienna
- Virtual desktops (like Linux)
- Ability to rearrange items on the task bar
- Customizable themes
- Windows Core: the ability to separate GUI and console from each other as in Windows Server 2008
- All applications not specifically written for Vienna or in .NET will be run on a separate virtual machine
- IE 8
- Breaking Down the Walls Of Phones' Web Gardens
- Users are looking for a cell phone browser experience closer to that of their laptops
- Browsers are limited by wireless carrier support
- Ability to download music and video
- Opera Mini can't be used on Verizon cellphones
- Microsoft is working on a mobile browser called Deep Fish
- Opera makes money on Opera Mini by licensing it to handset makers and wireless carriers, and sharing ad revenue
- More users browse on cell phones than on computers in some developing countries
Friday, July 27, 2007
- Opera 9.5 to have screen reader support
- On Windows:
- Support for the Microsoft Accessibility API (MSAA).
- Close cooperation with other screen reader vendors.
- On Mac:
- Support of the Mac API for Accessibility.
- Support of VoiceOver.
- On Windows:
- Flock Community Ambassador starts holding weekly "Office Hours"
- To gather user feedback, Flock Community Ambassador Evan Hamilton is now holding Community "Office Hours" every Monday from 11a-12p PST
- During this time, Evan focuses solely on communicating with the Flock community via irc, email, AIM, MSN, Google Talk, and Skype
- Introduction to Information Cards
- An open standard for identity on the web
- Information Cards can be considered to be a "heavier" protocol than the other technologies (LiveID, BBAuth, OpenID)
- Provides password-less login, phishing-resistance, and consistent cross-platform UI
Friday, July 20, 2007
- Opera Watch asked its community for each person's Top 5 features desired for Opera. Here's a sample of what's been requested (more *'s means more requests):
- Auto-update (like Firefox) *****
- Developer tools (like Firefox's Firebug extension) *****
- A better marketing campaign ****
- Integrated inline spell check ***
- More powerful RSS feeds reader **
- RSS in a side panel of its own
- Option to subscribe to other feed readers
- Better widget integration **
- Improved UI/user friendliness - special effects and a generally slicker interface **
- Ability to add more “auto-complete” forms **
- Ad blocker (like Firefox Ad Block extension)
- A built-in feature that gets rid of duplicate bookmarks
- A feature to archive webpages
- userJS repository (like Firefox)
- Opera Mini tied to GPS in people's phones
- Delete multiple passwords from saved passwords list
- Better CSS3 support
- Easier way to specify site specific CSS files (to override designs)
- RGBA
- System update for skins and widgets (located @ Opera)
- Ability for skins to modify menus as well (like Firefox)
- A way to easily export/backup newsfeeds, mail, bookmarks, toolbars, menus etc. all together
- Improved options on right click
- Improved document type mixing
- More Mac like interface (which is on the way)
- Domain name completion, like Ctrl+Enter for .com
- Integrated database of custom buttons like the ones on http://operawiki.info/CustomButtons
- To be able to customize side-bar as address bar: drag buttons, etc.
- For Opera Mini: A way to save webpages on memory phone.
- Opera 9.22 released on 7/19, which includes the following key features:
- Security update
- Improved BitTorrent download speeds
- Support for the Microsoft Silverlight plug-in
- Flock 0.9 released on 7/10, which includes the following key features:
- MyWorld: a dynamic home base for all your favorite sites, feeds, and media streams
- Flock's Media MiniBar provides fast access to both photos and videos on Flickr, Photobucket, Youtube, and Truveo.
- The new Accounts & Services sidebar offers easier configuration and enhanced discovery and activation logic
- Improved Favorites with folders and support for Ma.gnolia and del.icio.us
- Blogging: Improved UI, integrated Clipboard, support for all major Blog services including Blogger, Wordpress, Typepad and Livejournal
- Security improvements
- In-line spell check
- Overall Theme upgrade
