A new Web browser, still in technical preview, has been launched by the co-founder and former CEO of Opera Software, the Norwegian company behind the Opera Web browser. Vivaldi, which is aimed mainly at Internet power users, should be released in beta form in the coming weeks, with a final version due towards the end of May.
But Vivaldi appears more interested at this stage in attracting users of Opera — placed fifth among Web browsers after Chrome, Internet Explorer, Firefox and Safari — than attempting to steal a march on Web’s big guns.
Vivaldi was started in 2014 by Opera co-founder Jon von Tetzchner and, despite still only being available as a technical preview release, has had more than 800 000 downloads to date. The software runs on Windows, Mac and Linux.
Von Tetzchner told CNet recently that he’s trying to fill a need among technology users who want more from their Web browser. He believes Opera has made a number of missteps in recent years — not least of which was its decision to ditch key features favoured by power users. Von Tetzchner hopes to attract disgruntled Opera users to Vivaldi.
“The browser we once loved has changed its direction,” Vivaldi says on its website. “Sadly, it is no longer serving its community of users and contributors who helped build the browser in the first place. So we came to a natural conclusion. We must make a new browser.”
The new browser has a minimalistic interface with splashes of colour. It’s built on HTML5 and uses the Blink layout engine developed as part of Google’s Chromium project.
Those interested in downloading Vivaldi should note that it’s not yet feature-complete. — © 2015 NewsCentral Media