Every browser has an option to disable loading of images, javascript, flash or java. At least Firefox and Opera have them for sure, I suspect others do too, because why not?
Actually, Opera can use a (Opera operated) proxy to scale the images down, compress html, css and js. This feature is called "Opera Turbo", I think, and is unique to Opera (browser and company) - at least as a built in from the start.
The second reason is Opera Mini, which can run on "dumbphones" and is a fast, modern browser, which can use "Opera Turbo" too. People there didn't have access to newer hardware, stuck with "dumbphones" were essentially abandoned by everyone else - only Opera was there for them.
Third reason was Opera's good support for cryptography, which is nice to have when you know every byte you send is archived and can (and will be) used against you if you happen to become inconvenient.
So, to summarize: your summary is inaccurate, misleading and not necessary.
> Every browser has an option to disable loading of images, javascript, flash or java. At least Firefox and Opera have them for sure, I suspect others do too, because why not?
For me the crucial difference is that Opera could toggle between loading images/cached images with a single keypress: 'i'. These days you have to press Shift-i. Toggling CSS on/off is Shift-g. Having this so easily accessible makes a big difference. I don't know how to do this in Chrome. Looking quickly through the menu, I can't even find the options for this.
>Every browser has an option to disable loading of images, javascript, flash or java. At least Firefox and Opera have them for sure, I suspect others do too, because why not?
1. Opera has also option to show only cached images and option to load selected image.
Opera has been light years beyond the other browsers in caching for so long it seems they'll never catch up.
It did have a hard time recovering from the early backlash against it for not being open-source, belying the involvement and contributions of Opera engineers to the open standards web.
Well, I seriously doubt anyone really bothered about these ads in Belarus. Most people back then bought software collections on pirate CDs that already included a keygen or a serial number. (In fact, some people still use these, but now it’s easier to download most software.)
How long? I never saw (edit: don't remember seeing - as it was showing ads then) ads in Opera and I was using it from about 2002(3?) to 2011 when I switched to Chrome. I seem to remember that back then Opera's main selling point was that it was insanely fast and had small memory footprint while having many new and useful features.
So I think it showed the ads for about 6 years? Just curious.
> Up to this point, Opera was trialware and had to be purchased after the trial period ended. Version 5.0 (released in 2000) saw the end of this requirement. Instead, Opera became ad-sponsored, displaying advertisements to users who had not paid for it.[25] Later versions of Opera gave the user the choice of seeing banner ads or targeted text advertisements from Google. With version 8.5 (released in 2005) the advertisements were removed entirely and primary financial support for the browser came through revenue from Google (which is by contract Opera's default search engine).
So 2000 through 2005.
This seems to be borne out by the more specialized History of the Opera web browser page:
> Opera 5, released on December 6, 2000, was the first version which was ad-sponsored instead of having a trial period.
[snip]
> Version 8.5 was released on September 20, 2005, Opera announced that their browser would be available free of charge and without advertisements from then onwards, although the company still sells support contracts.
Ok, so either I have forgotten or wasn't using Opera that early (but that seems improbable). This bit:
> Later versions of Opera gave the user the choice of seeing banner ads or targeted text advertisements from Google
is suspicious - I remember that when Opera was showing ads it had an ad bar above (or below) address bar. So maybe I got served ads but didn't consider them as such.
> Opera has also option to show only cached images and option to load selected image.
Right, I forgot. One question: isn't loading of selected things used for any element, not just images? So I could disable loading of header div and such?
It is not disabling, it' enabling by right click and selecting "Show image" on element. If image is supposed to be loaded via background style for div then probably enabling will not work, it will not be loaded in "only cached images" mode.
The idea is that you have a small button in your status bar, that switches between 'all images off' / 'show cached images' / 'all images on'. This setting is remembered on site-by-site basis.
Actually, Opera can use a (Opera operated) proxy to scale the images down, compress html, css and js. This feature is called "Opera Turbo", I think, and is unique to Opera (browser and company) - at least as a built in from the start.
The second reason is Opera Mini, which can run on "dumbphones" and is a fast, modern browser, which can use "Opera Turbo" too. People there didn't have access to newer hardware, stuck with "dumbphones" were essentially abandoned by everyone else - only Opera was there for them.
Third reason was Opera's good support for cryptography, which is nice to have when you know every byte you send is archived and can (and will be) used against you if you happen to become inconvenient.
So, to summarize: your summary is inaccurate, misleading and not necessary.