Opera 26 is here, and many Internet users might not care that much, but they should. The browser brings forth a new feature that we consider as quite unusual. The browser is available right now for Windows, Mac, and Linux.
In the previous update, Opera introduced users to Bookmarks, a feature that should have been a part of the browser since the company chose to use the Google Chrome engine. It took Opera over a year to introduce this feature, which made us wonder if the company cared about improving its market share at all.
With the latest update, Opera 26 is now adding the ability to share Bookmarks with other users of a computer, along with migrating the same bookmarks across other web browsers. It's a bit like the sharing feature in the old Opera browser where a user could have a mini home server setup via his/her Opera web browser, and share content with friends.
By adding links sharing section of bookmarks, users can share links with anyone for up to 14 days. For this to happen, the user must first send their friend or family an invitation.
The whole thing is a neat feature, but what is the point of this when a person can simply share links with folks via social networks or messenger apps? It doesn't make much sense. Opera should focus on bringing back all the core features of the old browser before going down the path of experimentation.
Apart from the ability to share bookmarks with friends and family, another feature popped up in version 26. Users of the browser can now migrate bookmarks from another web browser to Opera. Another old feature, but at least it is back, and should make it easier for old Opera fans who have jumped ship to return. Several other features include a new print preview so users can preview their print layout right in the browser; Linux users get the same options and features as Mac and Windows users; and the Opera UI is better-integrated with Mac OS X Yosemite.
For now, we are not entirely impressed with Opera 26. Since the company chose to switch to the Google Chrome render engine, the browser now looks and performs too much like Chrome. The things that made Opera unique are gone, and we are not certain if they will ever return. Only time will tell as the team pushes on to bring a once great web browser back into the game.
