Opera News: Co-Founder Leaving, Swordfish RC4, Project Featherweight
Here are some good news and some bad news from Norwegian developer Opera Software. The bad news is that Jon S. von Tetzchner will leave the company he co-founded back in 1995 and lead up to 2010. Von Tetzchner will stay with Opera Software until the end of the month (June 30th), then will leave to pursue other projects.
Von Tetzchner had this to say about him leaving Opera Software:
“It is of course a choice that brings up a lot of emotions. When we first started out, we were a few guys in a really small office - now we are spread all over the world, have over 740 employees and over 200 million users. I am very proud of what we have accomplished, and look forward to following the company closely also in the future.”
Opera Software CEO Lars Boilesen had this to say about von Tetzchner leaving the company:
“We have had a lot of fun during these years, and to say that Jon has created a great company is an understatement. He has taught me and everyone working here a lot. He believed in, and pushed out innovation after innovation that we see our competitors constantly struggling with copying, making Opera a first mover in the technological development of web browsers as we know them today. We are very proud of Jon, and of course of the company. We are aiming at 500 million users by 2013, and we have a very positive flow right now.”
That takes care of the bad news. Now here are the good news. The first one is that Opera 11.50 codename “Swordfish” has reached the RC4 (Release Candidate 4) milestone in its development process. On Thursday, the 23rd of June, Opera Software announced the release of RC1. Then on Friday, it announced the release of RC2 and RC3. And then on Sunday, it announced the release of RC4.
The other good news is that Opera Software has released a few details about Project Featherweight, a project that aims to make Opera as light, bright and user-friendly as possible without negatively impacting the browser’s power and flexibility.
“Featherweight has been under wraps until now, so that we may present a comprehensive solution, not bits and pieces,” explained Jan Henrik Helmers, Opera User experience and Graphics (UxG). “Some changes are highly visible, such as those to the address and status bars, but you will find that we have reworked much of the skin throughout—including a brand new icon set. This is the first step in project Featherweight, and a major collaborative effort between the UxG and Desktop teams.”
Von Tetzchner had this to say about him leaving Opera Software:
“It is of course a choice that brings up a lot of emotions. When we first started out, we were a few guys in a really small office - now we are spread all over the world, have over 740 employees and over 200 million users. I am very proud of what we have accomplished, and look forward to following the company closely also in the future.”
Opera Software CEO Lars Boilesen had this to say about von Tetzchner leaving the company:
“We have had a lot of fun during these years, and to say that Jon has created a great company is an understatement. He has taught me and everyone working here a lot. He believed in, and pushed out innovation after innovation that we see our competitors constantly struggling with copying, making Opera a first mover in the technological development of web browsers as we know them today. We are very proud of Jon, and of course of the company. We are aiming at 500 million users by 2013, and we have a very positive flow right now.”
That takes care of the bad news. Now here are the good news. The first one is that Opera 11.50 codename “Swordfish” has reached the RC4 (Release Candidate 4) milestone in its development process. On Thursday, the 23rd of June, Opera Software announced the release of RC1. Then on Friday, it announced the release of RC2 and RC3. And then on Sunday, it announced the release of RC4.
The other good news is that Opera Software has released a few details about Project Featherweight, a project that aims to make Opera as light, bright and user-friendly as possible without negatively impacting the browser’s power and flexibility.
“Featherweight has been under wraps until now, so that we may present a comprehensive solution, not bits and pieces,” explained Jan Henrik Helmers, Opera User experience and Graphics (UxG). “Some changes are highly visible, such as those to the address and status bars, but you will find that we have reworked much of the skin throughout—including a brand new icon set. This is the first step in project Featherweight, and a major collaborative effort between the UxG and Desktop teams.”
