Why is a singer-songwriter and fan of Elvis, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylanand roots rock and roll being so effusive about Opera?Well I’m not talking about opera music here, nor the Phantom of the Opera.I am talking about Opera – the third most popular browser on the internet.What is a Browser?This is a software product which allows one to surf the world wide web andalso receive and send email and use other software applications such asinstant messaging. Microsoft’s Internet Explorer is the most commonly usedbrowser and Netscape is second. AOL has it’s own browser which is actuallya version of Netscape which they now own.Most cyber surfers are quite unaware that they have an option beyond thesetwo. Microsoft and AOL are able to monopolize the internet in this fashion.But there are choices. In this article I am going to review a few points ofthe available browsers.Internet Explorer – If there is any way that I can get away from IE then Iam open to it. It is enough that Microsoft monopolizes the internet withtheir Windows Operating System, it is a bit much that I have to also usetheir browser. This having been said, there are certain very positivefeatures that make Internet Explorer quite efficient. Thumbs Up -1. If you are needing to fill out a lot of forms or enter your passwordmany times as in checking email,etc. then IE is extremely user friendly. Itwill actually recall your user id and other information that you haveentered into specific data entry slots before so you can avoid having to re submit theinfo again and again. It also is the only browser that I have found thatworks with a software product called Gator which will recall your user id,password and personal info, including credit card info and pops up with thecorrect info every time that you visit that same site where you submittedthat info before.2. You can drag links to the browser tool bar and others are adaptable tobe included there for instance, Yahoo Instant Messenger and YahooCompanion( with access to all the cool Yahoo channels ), MSN Messenger andother software products integrate directly into your browser screen and areaccessible. What is also good is that you can remove them and also choosewhich of the various bars you want to see on your screen and which youdon’t. Thumbs Down -1. It can be quite slow to load and even more so if you add more featuresinto your tool bars.2. It can crash often.3. It is often targetted by hackers.Netscape -THUMBS DOWN!There used to be many Netscape fanatics. In fact, it predates InternetExplorer and many people were quite loyal to it. Within the last couple ofyears though it was co-opted and corrupted by AOL who now own Netscape. AOLhas done such a thorough job of messing it up that it is receiving verynegative reviews in every case that I have seen. A friend who used to loveNetscape wrote a blistering review of it and it was all true. She statedthat it looked like “Internet Explorer in a clown outfit”. It crashes, ittakes a long time to load if you can get it to load at all, it is slow,etc. Avoid Netscape 6.0Thumbs UpNetscape 4.73, the previous version is a much better product and you maylike certain features that are not in IE such as the integrated htmleditor, the integrated email features and more.Neoplanet – Thumb sort of in the middle.This is actually IE in disguise again. The difference between this and IEis that you can choose how it appears, you can choose to add or subtractcertain tabs not available in IE and you can integrate an email accountinto it. On the other hand, you cannot drag software products onto its toolbar as you can with IE. So, it is prettier than IE and in some ways morefunctional, and in some ways less functional. This is just a matter ofpreferance.Now we get to the exciting part -Enigma -Thumbs UP -This is a very lightweight browser that will download in a couple ofminutes. It will provide you a no frills and far more rapid access to theinternet than IE will. It has integrated email with your email server be itOutlook Express, Hotmail (both Microsoft products) or Eudora or any otheremail client and has the basic features, bookmarked favorite sites, etc asin IE.Thumbs Down -Not as sophisticated or multi functional as IE, BUT it gets you out of theyolk of having to use Microsoft and it is the fastest of all the browsers Ihave tested by far.The name – it is far from an Enigma, I would say that Netscape 6.0 is muchmore of an enigma.Opera -Big Thumb Way Up!This is the third most popular browser behind IE and Netscape. There iseven an “Opera for Dummies” book. A sure sign that you have made it in thismodern sophisticated time period of history is if they write a “fordummies” book about your product. Then you made the big time! :)This is strictly a browser that is excellent for research and for pure fun- it is full of many preset links to web sites under just about any topic.For instance, if you go to “lifestyles” under the bookmarks tab it willtake you to 35 different sites on subject as diverse as cooking, gardeningto sites for parents and for senior citizens, etc. Then you can go to itssub headings, for instance “travel” which has about 35 sites on weather indifferent regions, access to hotel and airfare arrangements,etc. Or you cango to the “computers” subheading and find links to sites with names like”how the internet came to be”, “how to fight spam”, “cool site of the day”,”search engine tutorials” etc and then subheadings to several keycategories such as the technology of HTML (the code used to design websites) and anti virus software. I could go on. Additionally, there are allsorts of features on how you can customize what you are viewing to your ownpreferences, none of these options are available in other browsers. Emailis integrated nicely and you can import favorites from IE or fromNetscape. I would like to point out that the difference between a wonderfullyuser friendly and helpful browser like Opera and the arrogance of AOL isthat with Opera you are given access to tons of web sites right from yourbrowser window that provide you with excellent information for whateversubject you may be interested in. AOL on the other hand co-opts theinternet into its own “channels” which are less informative, less helpfuland which are presented in such a way as to make you less likely to becomemore interested in the subject. Not to mention that it is arrogance beyondbelief to try to sell customers that AOL is the internet when it is a verydiluted, very inferior alteration of what is available if you use a productlike Opera. AOL may have limited use for someone who is just a dabbler atthe internet and wants everything presented to them in bite size portions.It is like Internet lite or maybe a TV dinner version of the internet.Aside from the fact that AOL is inferior in quality and features as regardsits email and connectivity and many other things that you would use theinternet for.Thumb down -Does not have the ability to integrate other software products and rememberpasswords, etc as does IE.Tends to be a bit slow so far in my usage.There are two versions – one is free but has a big ad banner in the toolbar and the other is $39.These are the key players in the WWW Browser game. What I do is I use IEwhen I am doing something where I will need to fill out a lot of forms, Iuse Opera for doing research and I use Enigma when I need to fly throughmany pages rapidly. This is the best combination I have been able todevelop. Maybe someday someone will come up with a single browser thatserves all purposes. Hopefully it will not be Microsoft.