More Indicators that Opera may be for Sale emerge
As far as I'm concerned, it is all just a rumor at this point in time. I'm talking about Opera Software currently in talks with Facebook, and maybe other potential buyers. Two new indicators that came to light today make it look as if there is more to the rumor than initially thought.
It was first reported by Fav Browser that Opera Software has renewed the agreement with Google which in itself is not that spectacular. The extension however ends on June 30, 2012, which is not really a long time considering that Mozilla recently renewed their agreement with Google for 3 years.
When you look back at Opera's previous renewals, you will however notice that the previous renewal was also only for two months, from March 31, 2012 to May 31, 2012. Before that though, Opera and Google had a two year long agreement that made Google the default search engine in the Opera web browser.
A renewal by two and then one month could indicate that Opera has been in talks with potential buyers for at least that time. There are however other explanations for this, including talks with other search engine companies.
You find the press release that announces the agreement here.
The second indicator has also been posted by FavBrowser. Facebook apparently has removed the Google Chrome browser from a page on the site that is displayed to users who access the website with an unsupported browser. The browser it was replaced with? Opera of course.
This should come as a surprise to many who would expect the page to display the most used web browsers like it did previously. This again can have other reasons, for instance that the relationship between Facebook and Google has been rocky lately. It needs to be noted that this page recommends browsers to users who open the page with an unsupported web browser (which Chrome is not).
I'm personally still not convinced that Opera will be acquired by Facebook or another company in the near future, even though it is possible that it will happen after all. What's your take?
Update: Nothing happened in 2012 but in 2016 it was revealed that a Chinese consortium was interested in acquiring Opera Software. The proposed deal had to be changed because of regulatory concerns so that Opera Browser and some other key technologies were acquired by the Chinese consortium while other parts of Opera Software were not. The part of Opera Software that the Chinese did not acquire rebranded to Otello Corporation.
Martin, I would appreciate that you do not censor this post, as it’s informative writing.
Onur, there is a misleading statement “[…] GIFs are animated images …”. No, obviously you don’t seem to have take much notice of what you were told back in March regarding; Graphics Interchange Format (GIF).
For example, https://www.ghacks.net/2023/03/31/whats-gif-explanation-and-how-to-use-it/#comment-4562919 (if you had read my replies within that thread, you might have learnt something useful). I even mentioned, “GIF intrinsically supports animated images (GIF89a)”.
You linked to said article, [Related: …] within this article, but have somehow failed to take onboard what support you were given by several more knowledgeable people.
If you used AI to help write this article, it has failed miserably.
AI is stupid, and it will not get any better if we really know how this all works. Prove me wrong.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IYl1sTIOHI
Martin, [#comment-4569908] is only meant to be in: [https://www.ghacks.net/2023/07/09/how-to-send-gifs-on-iphone-two-different-ways/]. Whereas it appears duplicated in several recent random low-quality non relevant articles.
Obviously it [#comment-4569908] was posted: 9 July 2023. Long before this thread even existed… your database is falling over. Those comments are supposed to have unique ID values. It shouldn’t be possible to duplicate the post ID, if the database had referential integrity.
Don’t tell me!
Ghacks wants the state to step in for STATE-MANDATED associations to save jobs!!!
Bring in the dictatorship!!!
And screw Rreedom of Association – too radical for Ghacks maybe
GateKeeper ?
That’s called “appointing” businesses to do the state’s dirty work!!!!!
But the article says itself that those appointed were not happy – implying they had not choice!!!!!!
@The Dark Lady,
@KeZa,
@Database failure,
@Howard Pearce,
@Howard Allan Pearce,
Note: I replaced the quoted URI scheme: https:// with “>>” and posted.
The current ghacks.net is owned by “Softonic International S.A.” (sold by Martin in October 2019), and due to the fate of M&A, ghacks.net has changed in quality.
>> ghacks.net/2023/09/02/microsoft-is-removing-wordpad-from-windows/#comment-4573130
Many Authors of bloggers and advertisers certified by Softonic have joined the site, and the site is full of articles aimed at advertising and clickbait.
>> ghacks.net/2023/08/31/in-windows-11-the-line-between-legitimate-and-adware-becomes-increasingly-blurred/#comment-4573117
As it stands, except for articles by Martin Brinkmann, Mike Turcotte, and Ashwin, they are low quality, unhelpful, and even vicious. It is better not to read those articles.
How to display only articles by a specific author:
Added line to My filters in uBlock Origin: ghacks.net##.hentry,.home-posts,.home-category-post:not(:has-text(/Martin Brinkmann|Mike Turcotte|Ashwin/))
>> ghacks.net/2023/09/01/windows-11-development-overview-of-the-august-2023-changes/#comment-4573033
By the way, if you use an RSS reader, you can track exactly where your comments are (I’m an iPad user, so I use “Feedly Classic”, but for Windows I prefer the desktop app “RSS Guard”).
RSS Guard: Feed reader which supports RSS/ATOM/JSON and many web-based feed services.
>> github.com/martinrotter/rssguard#readme
We all live in digital surveillance glass houses under scrutiny of evil people because of people like Musk. It’s only fair that he takes his turn.
“Operating systems will be required to let the user choose the browser, virtual assistant and search engine of their choice. Microsoft cannot force users to use Bing or Edge. Apple will have to open up its iOS operating system to allow third-party app stores, aka allow sideloading of apps. Google, on the other hand, will need to provide users with the ability to uninstall preloaded apps (bloatware) from Android devices. Online services will need to allow users to unsubscribe from their platform easily. Gatekeepers need to provide interoperability with third-parties that offer similar services.”
Wonderful ! Let’s hope they’ll comply with that law more than they are doing with the GDPR.