Introduction:

Opera software has exploded in popularity since their release of Opera 6, taking the net by storm as a viable alternative to Microsoft's Internet Explorer 6 and also Netscape Navigator 7, (Mozilla).

Opera 7 is a completely rewritten browser, boasting faster surfing speeds, and nifty new features, that weren't in their previous version of Opera.

Functionality:

Opera 7 is boasting new features, faster webpage loading and much more. Opera has gives users the ability to search on the net without loading the specific page for that search engine. All you have to do is enter the key word for the search engine, type in the keyword(s) you want to look up and then you're done! For example want to look up ebay for a ram? Opera 7 allows you to type in e ram, and all the results for the ebay search will appear on your screen.

This is extremely handy for those people who use ebay a lot of any particular search engine. Saves you time and also let's you to display as many results per page you like. Like 10, 50, 100 etc. I must admit I really like this option.

Opera 7 comes with a revamped mail client, M2, which shows you what messages are spam and ultimately block them, messages from newsgroups, etc. It has a feature called quick reply where you can type a quick response and send it right away.

Opera's browser functionality hasn't changed that much since Opera 6. You still have the ability to modify what you want on the browser itself, the ability to turn off images and other stuff via the Quick Perfences menu, and also a popup blocker, which saves you from downloading a standalone popup blocking program. You have the option of blocking all popups or the popups that you requested to be opened so if a site that uses a popup to display information, it won't be blocked by default.

Conclusion:

Opera 7 has improved compared to version 6, although there are still problems and some bugs that have to be addressed. I am disappointed with their mail program, M2. There are a few problems I have incurred with M2 and hopefully these bugs will be fixed. I also do not like the folders (inbox, trash, etc) being displayed only when hotlist is shown. Those people who like organizing their emails have the choice of classifying the email as important, todo and more.

There are some new features that I like in Opera 7 that weren't found in version 6. Opera still let's its users customize the browser to their likings. The competition does not provide such customizable options.

All in all, Opera still lives up to their name with being a great browser. But their mail client, M2, needs to be fixed.