Google does not seem to the only company that has accelerated the pace of browser development in the last year. Opera Software yesterday released the first Opera 11 release candidate, a big milestone in the development of the new Opera browser.
Opera 11 RC 1 is available for the supported operating systems Microsoft Windows, Mac and Linux / FreeBSD. Interested users can download the new browser version from the Opera Desktop Team blog. Existing Opera users need to note that the release candidate will use the default installation folder of the latest Opera stable release if installed on the system. It is possible as usually to click on Options to change the installation path or use the browser as a standalone web browser without installation.
So what's new and hot in Opera 11? Probably the biggest addition are extensions which work much like Google Chrome extensions do. Users can install extensions from an add-on repository maintained at the official Opera website. Extensions are installed and uninstalled without browser reboots.
But that's just one of the new features. Opera Software has improved the performance and speed of the browser making Opera 11 one of the fastest available browsers. Other new features include tab groups to improve tab management, visual mouse gestures to control Opera with the mouse, an improve Opera Mail module or support for several HTML5 features.
It is very likely that the developers will ship Opera 11 final in this year. We keep you posted on the development. (via Caschy)
Update: Opera 11 Release Candidate 2 has just been released. Download the new version here.
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Ghacks is a technology news blog that was founded in 2005 by Martin Brinkmann. It has since then become one of the most popular tech news sites on the Internet with five authors and regular contributions from freelance writers.
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