Opera: Rewind The Web to 1996 (Opera at 30)
Opera’s 30th‑anniversary “Web Rewind” site, a cassette-themed interactive timeline of web history, drew mixed reactions: some praised its slick nostalgic design, while many found it confusing, gimmicky, or broken due to ad blockers and reliance on keyboard input. The project triggered broader reflections on Opera’s trajectory from its fast, feature-rich Presto-based days to a Chromium-based, Chinese-owned browser seen by critics as privacy‑hostile and “soulless,” as well as nostalgia for classic Opera innovations and concern over today’s browser monoculture.
Interactive “Web Rewind” experience
- Many users initially only see a spinning 3D cassette and are confused about how to proceed.
- Progression requires holding or tapping the spacebar; on mobile there is a “hold to rewind” button, but some ad blockers hide the cookie/GDPR banner, breaking the flow.
- Content per year ranges from simple text-and-image vignettes to small interactive scenes (e.g., a Windows 95 desktop with dial‑up simulation). Some find it neat but ultimately “pointless” or shallow.
- Several describe it as “soulless,” like a slick marketing piece rather than a meaningful retrospective; others defend it as a well-executed, fun interactive experience.
- Multiple warnings about unexpectedly loud audio and poor behavior on mobile.
Privacy, telemetry & Opera’s current reputation
- Strong criticism of present‑day Opera as “Chinese spyware” and tied to predatory lending apps.
- A linked analysis (in German) is cited as evidence of heavy telemetry, including sending all visited domains to Opera under “safe browsing.”
- Some argue that users already tolerate extensive data collection by US companies; others push back, calling this whataboutism and stressing that data exfiltration is bad regardless of country.
- Chrome is also criticized for limiting encrypted history sync, nudging users toward less private defaults.
Nostalgia for classic Opera & Presto
- Many recall Opera 3–12 as fast, lightweight, and feature‑rich, especially on low‑end hardware.
- Frequently praised features: mouse gestures, tabbed browsing on early Windows, strong dev tools (Dragonfly), instant back button, smart “next page” heuristics, text selection behavior, and local full‑text history search.
- Opera Mini’s compression and proxy service were valued, especially on slow connections.
Shift to Chromium & alternative browsers
- Multiple commenters consider Opera “dead” after switching from the Presto engine to Chromium; some switched to Firefox for a non‑Chromium option.
- Vivaldi is often called Opera’s spiritual successor (same founder/CTO), with powerful UI, tab tiling, built‑in ad blocker and mail, but it inherits Chromium’s strategic constraints (e.g., Manifest V3).
- Some users rely heavily on Vivaldi; others report serious, unfixed tab-switching bugs and call it unreliable.
- Otter Browser is mentioned as a more faithful but seemingly stalled successor.
- Concerns expressed about Chromium’s dominance enabling Google to shape web standards and limit innovation.
Open‑sourcing Presto & engine diversity
- Several wish Opera would open‑source the Presto engine now that it’s unused, seeing it as fast and standards‑compliant.
- A source leak reportedly exists, but contributors avoid it for legal reasons; without an official release, reviving Presto is risky.
- One former Opera employee notes the company couldn’t afford to keep Presto competitive with Google.
- Ladybird is cited as a promising new independent engine but not yet practically usable.
- Broader worry that only Blink/Chromium, WebKit/Safari, and a lagging Firefox are “taken seriously,” reducing competition.
Miscellaneous notes
- Some prefer oldweb.today for an authentic “old web” experience with actual legacy browsers.
- Comments touch on image format evolution (JPEG/GIF → WebP/AVIF/JPEG XL) and curiosity about Opera’s stance on newer formats.
- Historical details, like a missing MySpace “Tom” photo and inaccurate dial‑up sounds, are flagged as inauthentic by nostalgists.