Browser speed test: Where's Opera 10 alpha?

February 26, 2009 · by EspenAO

Here's an interesting browser speed test for you to check out by Lifehacker... They seem to test all major browsers (almost all in beta) and compare them up against each other. Interesting to note the lack of Opera 10 alpha. If most comparrisons are based on Safari 4 (beta) and Firefox 3 (.1 beta 2), then shouldn't Opera 10 also be tested, or? What's your take on it?

Readers' comments 16

Left under the original article, as archived.

Tamil26. February 2009, 16:31:35
Because alpha?
Chas426. February 2009, 16:33:58
add Opera 10 alpha

maybe they are scared of the speed
EspenAO26. February 2009, 16:35:53
An alpha/beta of a software product varies a lot. Google has betas for years - never seen an alpha there. There are differences in what defines an alpha, that's what I'm questioning too. It's a public release and it would've been interesting to see it compared.
thetomster26. February 2009, 17:13:30
I'm running on opera 10 alpha for over 4 weeks in a row, without having any problems in daily use ... it's running faster and more stable than ff 3 beta on my system, so what ... btw it's not all about the speed ... to me it's about feeling comfortable in daily use ... and I did make my choice
Chas426. February 2009, 17:23:48
http://dromaeo.com/

gives me: http://dromaeo.com/?id=61115

I only pause it one time

also I was using energy saver on my Mac
Chas426. February 2009, 18:52:41
I am noticing a lot of talk about Opera in the comments of the lifehacker post, anyone else see the comments?
Southern Cross26. February 2009, 21:42:42
Like Chas4 said, Opera 10 is too fast for them.
Bill_P27. February 2009, 00:43:46
maybe because they (the testers) distinguish between alpha and other stages of a software's lifecycle - most vendors wouldn't want their alpha software reviewed because it's (by definition) not even close to prime-time.

seems this post is just here to ryle the masses amd maybe get some posts on the comparisons comments section - better question would be why in so many comparisons is Opera (any version) not included?
Kiddalee27. February 2009, 00:49:30
But Opera 9.63 ~is~ included. It's first on the list.
antwon480227. February 2009, 04:30:09
a my wii opera is 9.30 9.63
malsumis27. February 2009, 08:47:55
Kiddalee - but the point is, that they're including other browsers in a testing stage, and not Opera for some reason. And why not?
Khoi0927. February 2009, 22:31:26
This very fast browser
cliffwood127. February 2009, 23:12:51
It seems that there is a move afoot and has been for some time to proclaim Firefox the "official browser of choice". Almost as if it has been proclaimed by everyone already. You even have to have it to even enter certain sites. I find Opera far superior to Firefox for my needs and if you are going to compare browsers, you need to be fair to all. My guess is that they are afraid of the results!
IceArdor28. February 2009, 10:22:25
It's either laziness to test another browser or ignorance. I'd say an alpha should be shown in the mix if they want to maximize the amount of time their report will be relevant.
Khadgar28. February 2009, 15:26:04
Well Opera 9.63 does seem to stack up fairly well against the other browsers, especially when some of their JavaScript engines were written after Opera announced the one they shipped on 9.63 when their intent in developing these new engines were to be the fastest. Lately there's been a race in JavaScript engine production with each trying to 1-UP each other. Opera 9.63 doesn't have the fastest engine anymore.

I'm unsure why they really didn't, but truly Opera 10 alpha isn't that easy to find. We know where it's at on the Desktop Team's blog, but for a non-user they visit Opera's website and see only downloads for 9.63 and not a single mention of 10. I think it could just be ignorance of 10's existence. Reading that post they tried to be as unbiased as possible. Even when Firefox beat Opera 9.63 in memory usage with 9 tabs open they did an explanation that it's not really fair as Firefox tends to consume itself over a period of time. And it's definitely true.
GoJoeGo28. February 2009, 16:28:51
@Khadgar: opera.com front page:

"Learn more or check out the new Opera 10 alpha."