We have just released Opera 10.5 pre-alpha for Labs. This pre-alpha is based on the Evenes branch and includes Windows, Mac, and UNIX builds (see below for download link).
Download: Mac Needed! Unfortunately, the newest version of Java is not compatible with Opera for Mac. If you wish to use a previous version to run Java in Opera, you may be vulnerable to security risks. It is possible to run Java version 6 in Opera. If you need a rollback of Opera, check out the app's version history on Uptodown. It includes all the file versions available to download off Uptodown for that app. Download rollbacks of Opera for Mac. Any version of Opera distributed on Uptodown is completely virus-free and free to download at no cost.
As you may know, we don’t typically open new versions to user-testing this early in the development cycle. However, we are really excited about what the Desktop team is cooking up and want your feedback.
Many of you have been asking for a glimpse of Carakan, our new ECMAScript/JavaScript engine, and an update to our HTML <video> support. With this release you’ll be able to play with them and a few other new technologies that will hopefully be part of our next major release.
Some disclaimers: What you’re downloading today is a feature-incomplete and likely unstable development build. Please handle with care, backup your data before you install and do not run in hydroelectric power plants.
What’s new: Inside
Carakan
Opera Mac Os 10.5
Carakan is our new JavaScript engine. It’s fast, more than 7x faster in SunSpider than Opera 10.10 with Futhark on Windows (Mac optimization is not as far along). You can read more gritty details regarding register-based bytecode, automatic object classification and native code generation in the Opera Core blog.
SunSpider Javascript Benchmark (runs per minute)
<video>
This build features a long-awaited update to our support for the HTML5 <video> element, allowing native playback and control of video inside the browser. It has been much improved since our first proof of concept was released in 2007. Check out Philip Jägenstedt’s (re-)Introducing <video> article for all the details.
Presto 2.5
We are now using Presto 2.5, which contains a huge numbers of improvements. It also includes support for CSS3 transitions and transforms, and more HTML5 features like persistent storage.
Vega
Vega is our new graphics library. It’s currently software-based and displays everything you see on-screen. Vega can be hardware accelerated, but as you can see from the complex graphics benchmark in Peacekeeper, we don’t seem to need it yet. (Note that Futuremarks’ Peacekeeper test does no include the results of their complex graphics tests in the overall score. We believe this is wrong in 2009 and will simply be silly if not changed in 2010.)
Peacekeeper Complex Graphic Benchmarks
What’s new: Outside
Platform integration
- On Windows 7/Vista, you will notice a lot of visual changes and use of APIs, which allow the UI to display the Aero Glass effect. For Windows 7, we also added Aero Peek and Jump List support to help you easily access your Speed Dials, Tabs, etc. from the Taskbar.
- For Mac, a complete rewrite in Cocoa brings a Unified Toolbar, native buttons and scrollbars, multi-touch gestures (try 3-Finger Swipe Left/Right or Pinch to zoom) and a bunch of other small details. We also added Growl notification support.
“Private tab” and “Private window”
You can open a new Private tab or Private window that forgets everything that happened on it once closed.
Non-modal dialogs
Dialog boxes (JavaScript alerts, HTTP authentication, etc.) are now non-modal and are displayed as a page overlay. This allows you to switch tabs or windows while the dialog is still displayed. Similarly, the Password Manager dialog is now anchored at the top of the page won’t block any content as it loads a new page.
Address field and Search field improvements
Both fields have been upgraded in looks and functionality. They can now remember searches, support removing items from history and show results in a better layout.
Download
Update: Opera 10.50 is now part of normal release cycle. Please visit the Opera Desktop Team blog to download the latest version.
To try it out, you can download the latest Labs build here:
Again, please remember that this is an unstable development build. There are known bugs, unimplemented UI elements and surprise crashes.
Some specific known issues:
- High memory usage
- No JIT (slow performance) on old processors without SSE2
- No printing for Mac build
Opera Mac 10.5.8
What’s next
We are very excited with this release, and we hope that with this sneak peek, you are too. From all of us at Opera we wish you a happy holiday and a great new year. We’ll be back soon with more exciting news.
Feel free to join the discussion at the My Opera community or visit the Desktop Team Blog for news and to leave a comment.
Resources
- Opera 10.5 pre-alpha, What’s new — Opera’s Developer Relations Team blog
- Carakan Revisited — Opera Core Concerns blog
- Carakan — Opera Core Concerns blog
- Carakan F.A.Q. — Opera’s Developer Relations Team blog
- Vega, Opera’s vector graphics library — Opera Core Concerns
UPDATE: Download Opera 10.5 Pre-Alpha 7x Faster than Opera 10.10 - official release. Just days ahead of the official release, an internal development milestone of the next iteration of Opera has been leaked and is now available for download in the wild. Opera Software had announced that it was planning to offer the first taste of Opera 10.5 on December 22nd, 2009. However, the leaked build of Opera 10.0’s successor started being up for grabs from various third-party sources over the weekend. The Norway-based browser maker has since then confirmed the leak, but advised users to steer clear of the leaked Opera 10.5 pre-Alpha Build.
Huib Kleinhout, from the Opera Desktop team notes that the internal development milestone of Opera 10.5 pre-Alpha that got leaked is not the same as the official build that will be available for early adopters to start testing tomorrow, December 22nd. “There are some reports about an old internal build of 10.5 being available. Don't run it, the official build on Tuesday is much better and you don't risk getting nasty trojans on you pc,” Kleinhout stated.
However, the Opera 10.5 Pre-Alpha internal leaked build is an official release from Opera Software, although, obviously not meant for “public consumption.” As users will be able to notice from the screenshots integrated at the bottom of this article, courtesy of techie-buzz and ghacks, Opera 10.5 comes with a range of enhancements.
In Opera 10.5, users will get a tad more room for browsing. Opera Software has decided to do away with the traditional menu, and integrate it into a Ribbon/Fluent graphical user interface type menu, in which a small icon in the top left hand side corner provides access to such items as File, Edit, etc. In addition, the Tab area of the browser is now one with the address bar, which also holds the search box. Additional UI enhancements involve less nagging notifications, and a new search experience which dims the entire webpage in order to better highlight queried items.
With Opera 10.5, the browser maker has promised that speed will be a key focus. This prompted speculation that Opera Software was gearing up to integrating a new JavaScript engine into the browser dubbed Carakan. However, the leaked Opera 10.5 pre-Alpha internal build doesn’t feature Carakan, but offers a new version of the old rendering engine (Presto 2.5.18).
Opera 10.5 will be the first browser from Opera Software to embrace Windows 7. As the screenshots reveal, Opera 10.5 pre-Alpha plays nice with the new Windows Aero UI in Windows 7, and its enhancements such as Thumbnail Preview, the Superbar, JumpLists, and additional Aero effects and eyecandy.
In addition, Opera 10.5 pre-alpha comes with Private browsing, a feature already offered by competitors such as Internet Explorer 8, Firefox 3.6 and Google Chrome 4.0. Another aspect worth noting is the level of support for modern web standards. Opera 10.5 pre-Alpha already scores 99 out of 100 in the Acid3Test, a score almost three times as best as the preview build of Internet Explorer 9
Opera 10.20 Alpha is available for download here.
The latest releases of Google Chrome are available for download here.
Internet Explorer 8 is available for download here.
Firefox 3.6 Beta 5 (Beta revision 5) for Windows is available for download here.
Firefox 3.6 Beta 5 (Beta revision 5) for Mac OS X is available for download here.
Firefox 3.6 Beta 5 (Beta revision 5) for Linux is available for download here.