A new Opera user

October 6, 2008 · by EspenAO

This weekend Tor, our Communications Director, finally managed to get his mother to make the switch to Opera (from IE). His father made the switch when we were still license-funded and his brother made the jump in 2006, so there was only one family member left.

So, why did his mom first make the switch? Because some smart system developers at an organization where they help fund foreign aid projects recommended external users to use Opera (or Firefox).

Her first question was: "How do I go into Opera" (meaning "how do I go online using Opera")? Tor started by showing her the basics. First, he added her favorite sites to the Speed Dial. She loved that feature. She's never used bookmarks/favorites, so there was nothing to transfer. In other words, Speed Dial is her first repository for favorite Web destinations...

Then he showed her the tabs and the trash can. She found it a little hard to understand how to get a new tab, but after pointing her to the "plus" sign a couple of times she got it. She also struggled a bit with downloading the latest Flash plug-in, so he had to help her with that. He then showed her how Opera remembers everything if the browser crashes or if you simply shut down your computer for the day. She liked that feature, too. Tor also made sure to show her how she could search with Google using the box in the upper right corner. And that's pretty much it. He didn't want to make it more complicated.

Have you installed Opera on someone's computer? What features did you show off? If you have any similar stories, or want to discuss this one, take action in our forums.

Readers' comments 15

Left under the original article, as archived.

dantesoft6. October 2008, 10:03:19
Activating the password manager also betters the web experience.
Tamil6. October 2008, 10:27:42

Originally posted by EspenAO:
Have you installed Opera on someone's computer? What features did you show off?
Notes, mouse gestures & speed dial.
katrinj6. October 2008, 10:51:48
My parents live in the forest outside the city with a veery slow internet access. As I live abroad, I e-mail with my mother often. Unfortunately, she hardly ever replied. The reason being that the connection is so slow, she does not have the patience to wait as the pages load. I went and downloaded Opera and I swear, my mother was clapping hands when she saw that she now has Intenet connection that works like it is supposed to. My Mommy e-mails me regularly now She even said that she can write me without going to the toilet in between the page-loads.
tomas.sprlak6. October 2008, 10:56:35
My brother was amazed when I showed him how to use mouse gestures (only forward and backward) and in page search. He's been using Opera ever since.
Khadgar6. October 2008, 12:39:14
I converted my father and brother ages ago by just telling them to use it and blocking Internet Explorer from being used. My sister, on the other hand, was quite difficult to convert. She knew I used Opera for ages, but she never converted herself. She was like many others: Download the program, open it up for the first time, overwhelmed by the mess the initial interface is in, and throw it in the trash. She's got a fairly slow computer, and in using Firefox it ate up her computer's memory quickly especially after adding plugins. I sat down with her and showed her Opera, especially how to customize the interface to her liking. Now she has a wonky interface, but it's her setup. Since 9.0, however, it's been quite easy to convert people. One good look at Speed Dial and they're hooked.

One funny story is my nephew. By the time he got up in age to realize anything he was doing the only browser he ever used was Opera. He goes off to school and gets sent to the principal's office for pitching a fit in the computer lab because he couldn't find Speed Dial in Internet Explorer which the school used and how slowly webpages load despite the school's having a much faster connection than my brother does. The principal calls my brother to find out what he was talking about. We had quite a good laugh out of that.
Chas46. October 2008, 12:45:35
Using Content blocker and my brother asked how I did that and I just said Opera. He installed Opera. Then he got my Mom hooked also.
lilmoder6. October 2008, 14:46:16
Great success!

I installed Opera on 4 of my friends computers (3 of them are still using Opera and are happy about it), on 1 pc at public library, on 6 computers at my school (many students realy like Opera ).

(...my damn English )
DjiXas6. October 2008, 18:15:18
I did.

http://www.favbrowser.com/opera-95-new-skin-review/

Check the very bottom of the article where it says "Update".
Galileo6. October 2008, 18:17:01
I install Opera if the pc has internet access and the owner is willing to give it a shot I try to show them all the features
Pattty6. October 2008, 18:52:59
I installed Opera one or two years ago because one day I was visiting Therion's official site (Therion is one of my fav. bands ) with IE and I read this msg:

Please upgrade your browser
Certain browsers does not support websites like the Official Therion Website.
The problem is easily solved by upgrading your browser or switching to a better one.

Sorry for the inconvinience!
Ole Markus With

And there they recomended Opera ("to a better browser" words was and still are linked to Opera main site)... Some time before I was tried FF but, let's say it did convinced me with all those add-ons and so I decided to try out Opera, and it was love on the first trial

I liked speed dial , skins, feeds and bookmarks very much. Then, I dowloaded some usefull widgets (translator, sticky notes, clock, to do list, calendar...) and I liked them too, and I noticed Opera was faster than another browsers... That's why I install Opera if I can in every computer I use: Install, synchronize to get my bookmarks, and ta-daa!), and if I cannot install it, I use Opera portable... Indeed I shouldn't return to old browsers again I NEED Opera browser! I love it!
Maka5007. October 2008, 00:13:20
I JUST had installed Opera Mini on my friends new phone before I had read this. He'd never really used mobile browsing before because of how hard to use his existing browser was. Now he's using his phone's browser instead of the computer's!
AOTEAROAnz7. October 2008, 17:17:20
All my family use Opera ..i said use this.."btw Opera dosen't work with IE" ...Blocked it, and that was that!
They wouldn't use anything else now..and are even begining to growl at Safari.
bjdobson9. October 2008, 22:16:48
I LOVE Opera but have yet to convert anyone to it. My kids prefer Firefox and Safari and my mum still uses IE (YUCK!!!). Most tech people I talk to on the phone still use IE (Ugh!!!) and don't care.

My biggest issue with Opera is GMail. I love GMail and use it constantly but, unless I use HTML view, it doesn't work properly and, of course, HTML is a PITA. If they'd fix this issue, I could stop using FireFox completely... or Chrome... which I need to use GMail and still sometimes for things that Opera just doesn't work well with, Facebook being another....

I love Opera. Been using it for years and years and would never use any other browser if I had a choice
nachtaktiv9. October 2008, 22:27:37
My mother is paranoid of viruses, so safety was how I got her to use Opera. I set up her mail account in M2 and she totally loves it. She´s even started using filters on her own.
Khaled Khalil10. October 2008, 08:15:13
huh..
i just tell them i can't use their browsers, so i download opera on their computers and use it in front of them.
from more than a couple of years all my family and most of my close friends use opera as their default browser.
what sparks their preference for opera, i really don't know, but i suppose each one has his most favorite feature that make him make the switch.