Opera is a web browser available for Microsoft Windows, OS X and Linux.
Developed by Opera Software, the browser uses the Blink layout engine and features built-in tabbed browsing, pop-up blocking, private browsing, bookmarks bar and a download manager.
In July 2016, Qihoo bought the Opera browser for $600 million. As of November 2016, Golden Brick Capital, a group of investors which includes Qihoo, completed the acquisition.
Opera boasts ‘Turbo’ speed – but how fast does it go?
Noted for its speed, Opera has a feature called ‘Turbo’ which , when enabled, allows Opera to compress requested pages by up to 80% before sending it to the user. This reduces the total amount of data sent and makes pages load faster, which is of particular use to those with slower internet connections or for users who have restrictions place on data transfers.
First released in 1994 as a Telenor research project, Opera claims to have more than 350 million users worldwide as of 2014. Related products include Opera Mini, which is a microbrowser for mobile phones; Opera Coast, which is a browser for iPhone and iPad; and Opera Mobile, which is a browser for Android devices.
