Opera Unite – Is the Claim of Reinventing the Web True?

Opera has asserted that its recently released Opera Unite will reinvent the web. A claim of such tall order decidedly needs to be checked for its credibility. After an in depth study of the browser, we have answered a few important questions.

What is it?

Opera Unite is the latest version of the Opera web browser with a few path-breaking additional features. Its most important add-on is the inbuilt server software. This helps the user to share all types of data (from text to multimedia) with other web users without uploading them onto a normal server. The best part of the deal is that other web users need not be Opera users, to avail of this facility.

Opera is claiming that this will free the web users from the tediousness of working with the datacenter. This feature will enable the users to send pictures without placing them in an unknown computer. Social networking will be possible without bowing down to the rules and regulations of Facebook. Associate collaboration is possible without the aid of Google Docs server. This is just the tip of the iceberg, reiterates Opera.

Is it true?

Operate Unite is more like a promise for a better future. It has a few interesting applications, up and running now, that display strong resemblance to popular applications already present in the Net. Like ‘Fridge’, a Facebook look-alike, ‘The Lounge’, a chat client and flourishing media service. These applications are named Unite Services.

Users of Opera Unite get a Unite Homepage that is useful when other web users want to reach you. Your Homepage displays the Unite Services hosted by you. For example, to host a chat, you can ask other users to log on to your Opera Unite Homepage and select the chat service.

Even though the services offered are enticing, it is still too much to expect the users to abandon their familiar browsers and start using Unite just for these. Opera is highly hopeful that the users will recognize its immense prospects and switch over to Unite. The general buzz created by enthusiastic users could propel its further development.

What’s the catch?

Before the discussion proceeds further on the topic of its future possibilities, it would be ideal to look into its drawbacks. Sections of users are doubtful about its success for placing too many eggs in the same basket.

Not feasible for individual users. When a Net user wants to reach out to you through Unite Homepage, it is possible only if your computer is turned on. When the computer is switched off, they get a ‘Service not available’ message. This necessitates turning on your PC 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. When you are going through a datacenter, this won’t pose any problem. Datacenters have highly efficient servers that are cost-effective as well. However, for a normal individual, keeping the computer switched on 24×7 is improbable and may lead to huge electricity bills.

Datacenters have industry-level bandwidth, which is way ahead of those of domestic users. Even if home users have the best available broadband connection, the PC will be inadequate to handle the demand placed on it.

Servers are still being used. Opera has projected the image of circumventing servers to reach out to each other without a mediator. This is not actually the case. Instead of other servers, the user is being connected through the Opera server. To access a Unite address, you have to be redirected to the Opera Unite server by its proxy server. Even though your files are not stored here, you will be left stranded if the Opera datacenter runs into trouble.

Opera is still far from being popular. It is true that there are already many Opera users. However, proportionately, they form a minuscule part of the vast Net users. We have to wait and see whether Unite will create even a ripple among the Net users, let alone a splash. This technology may gain prominence if taken up by big players like Mozilla.

In spite of these setbacks, Opera Unite is still a silver lining in the cloud. Its success in the long run will depend on the way Opera handles its potential. Unite is an exciting new way to use the Internet. This aspect may help them garner client-base among the young users, who are raring to go and on the lookout for anything new and exciting.

The applications available in Unite at present are rugged and need much polishing, before an average Internet user can use it with ease. We don’t know what future holds for Unite. With an exciting range of services, games and tools, it definitely has the potential to come up as a topper.

Get a feel of Opera Unite by downloading it now.