Opera begins next act with poke at Google

Browser upstart Opera is continuing its campaign to demonstrate the feebleness of mainstream web browsers, releasing a product upgrade with new features and a customisable interface.

It's also taken the chance to have a poke at Google whose Gmail service looks pretty similar to some Opera developments, according to the company's CEO.

Opera 7.50 includes a lot more than just web surfing, with a new email client, an internet relay chat client and support for Really Simple Syndication newsfeeds, rounding out other browser extras.

Opera is taking a different tack from some other browser alternatives to Microsoft's dominant Internet Explorer. Recent entries such as Apple Computer's Safari and open-source project Mozilla's Firefox have opted to strip out bulky add-ons, such as web-based email - a strategy spurred in part by the failure of some full-featured browsers, including AOL's Netscape Communicator.

Opera conceded that its approach was different but pointed out that its new browser is anything but bulky, coming in at a scant 3.5MB. That makes Opera 7.50 quick to download, install and run, according to Jon von Tetzchner, Opera's CEO.

"We're moving in the opposite direction from Firefox and Safari to a more full-featured browser," he said in an interview.

Tetzchner compared the email client to Google's recently launched Gmail email product.

"Apparently, Google liked some of our ideas," he quipped, referring to similarities between the way the two applications handle e-mail archives. Both dispense with the folder system prevalent in Microsoft's Outlook email client, for example.

Evan Hansen writes for News.com