The Opera 10.5 pre-alpha has been released by Opera Software, with the early edition software expected to better compete with Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox.
Opera typically doesn't release pre-alpha software to the public, but it is steadily losing ground -- and engineers are particularly excited about this latest release -- with early testers understanding the excitement.
In testing done by CNET, the Opera pre-alpha used on an Intel Core 2 Q6600 (2.66GHz), 4GB RAM, and Windows 7 32-bit, "scored 435.6 milliseconds in the SunSpider JavaScript benchmark. By contrast, Google Chrome 4.0.266.0, the most recent development build, notched 510.4 ms. The current stable build of Opera was more than 7.5 times slower, at 3284.4 ms."
Specifically, the Carakan JavaScript engine utilized in the latest Opera pre-alpha is said to be up to seven times faster than Opera 10.10's SunSpider -- additional HTML5 features, better CSS3 transitions, and the new Opera graphics library also is used.
Aside from the speed adjustments, the Opera pre-alpha has significant GUI changes, with designers removing the menu bar, along with a red "O" button that controls Downloads, Bookmarks, and History. The red O in the corner is an excellent addition, as it keeps the navigational bars at the top of the screen, rather than have a cluttered mess.
I've been an avid Mozilla Firefox fan, but these speeds -- even if the browser still isn’t stable -- are very appealing. The first time I loaded the pre-alpha, it immediately crashed and I had to restart the PC. Once it actually started to work properly, however, I quickly learned I'm willing to give Opera a more serious chance again.
