Why We Don't Support Opera

With the recent stink that the Opera browser makers are causing in the European Commision with regard to Internet Explorer 8.0 being included in Windows 7, I thought it only fair to explain the reasons behind why we don't support Opera here at Quark IT.

1. There are no .adm templates available for it (that we've found), meaning that it cannot be controlled on a company-wide basis through Group Policy

Well, that's pretty much it. OK, so it is only one reason. Even Firefox has an .adm template file available which means that in business networks, defaults and preferences can be set to a company policy. Opera just doesn't seem to get this. Even Thunderbird has the ability to have *some* form of company-wide control, although it isn't as easily deployed as an .adm template.

Opera has been designed for the home user, not the business nor enterprise user. Or so it seems to me, since they have no way (that we've found) to effectively control the software on a company-wide basis.

Now, add to this that Windows "N" that was released to satisfy the European Commision masturbators has sold about, well, SFA copies - it is reported to be around 0.005% of all European sales of Windows XP in Europe by April 2006 (please note that these are rather old figures). So this should be AMPLE proof that the European Commision is not acting in the best interest of EU consumers.

As I've said before, were I involved in releasing Microsoft products in the EU, I'd mark all regular versions of Windows as "Not licensed for use in EU countries" and release appropriately crippled software to fully comply with the European Wanker Commision - no mail client (oh, there's none in Windows 7 any more anyway), no media player, no web browser, no video editor (and yes, that's gone from Windows 7 also), no nothing at all that the EU wanker commision can complain about. And then sell this at the same price that they sell the rest around the world. And then either make the individual components available for free download (just like Opera is) and/or via Optional Components in Windows Update.

I have never had an issue with calling a spade a spade - as Microsoft well knows by now - however when there's a witch hunt out against any company (and in this case it happens to be Microsoft) then something needs to be done about it. Apple can include Safari and iTunes in their OSX, so why can't Microsoft include IE8 and Media Player?

Fair's fair.

Regards,

The Outspoken Wookie