Facebook's Not Recommending Opera Instead of Chrome
Well, that's weird.
Just last week, the web was buzzing with rumors that Facebook was considering purchasing Opera Software, the company behind the Opera browser. Now fuel is being added to the fire as Facebook is (or at least was for a time) recommending Opera alongside Firefox and Internet Explorer and in place of Google's Chrome.
The story stems from this report on Favbrowser, which Thursday reported that Facebook's 'You're using a browser we don't support...' page showed up when they tried to access the social network using Google's Chrome. Listed as supported browsers are IE, Firefox and Opera. Neither Google Chrome nor Safari were on the list.
Curiously enough, this is no longer the case (we couldn't produce the same result when accessing Facebook via Chrome), but a cache of the page in question offers clear evidence of what Favbrowser is referring to. Even more puzzling: Under the question, "What web browsers does Facebook support?" Facebook's user help center lists Firefox, Safari, Chrome, and Internet Explorer -- in that order. No Opera at all.
So why was it showing up on the homepage as a supported browser when Facebook's help pages don't list it as supported? If we had to guess, we'd say it's because Facebook recently added support for Opera but have yet to update the help center. However, that doesn't explain why Chrome was all of a sudden registering as an unsupported browser.
We're assuming this is some kind of bug that has now been fixed because we're skeptical that Facebook would make such a move, even if it were gearing up to acquire Opera Software. Google's Chrome browser just over took Internet Explorer as the number one web browser. With 32.38 percent market share, Chrome is top of the pile. Where does Opera sit? Right at the bottom with just 1.78 percent of the market. Opera is still number one for mobile browsing (just about, Android is only a hair behind), but as far as the desktop is concerned, it's dead last.
So, while it makes tons of sense for Facebook to add support for Opera (and though it's not listed as a supported browser, it works just fine for us when we try to access Facebook), it really doesn't make sense to drop support for Google's Chrome, also known as the most used web browser available today. Facebook hasn't explained or commented on any of this, but we'll update you if we hear anything.


Me too.
I suspect low numbers of Opera browser is also caused by them not hammering servers when you do back/forward in history.
that nobody cares about
Me too.
I suspect low numbers of Opera browser is also caused by them not hammering servers when you do back/forward in history.
There appears to be a growing rift between facebook and google and maybe this is just a way of facebook "beating their chest".
Just my "theories" and opinions.
I would also like to point out that the title of this article seems off.
I use Firefox 12.0, and I access Google Groups. They (Google Groups) are changing the user interface, and the new interface is not compatible with older browsers, but it's compatible with Firefox 12.
But yesterday, when I accessed the site, it showed the old GUI instead and returned me a warning that i did not have a compatible browser, even though I had used the new GUI normaly before.
Today when I accessed the site, I tried switching back to the new GUI and it is working flawlessly again... weird, isn't it?
maybe facebook wants to make opera have a less marker share to buy it for a lower price
lastly, I hate google's dominance of the internet browsers, community stuff like Firefox and stuff should prevail, not a browser made by a privacy invading company, even if partially open source
i've been using it since a long time
I read that as "Facebook is not recommending Opera, but they are recommending Chrome".
Google+ is a threat to us, drop Chrome support.
2nd screen:
Google is threatening to sue us, restore Chrome support.
Opera does not want to sell, drop Opera support.
Another company that measures market share shows Chrome as a distant third.
http://www.netmarketshare.com/browser-market-share.aspx?qprid=1&sample=30
Mouse gestures; fully customizble interface is just perfect for HTPC setups way ahead of the rest.
Chrome is not customizable enuff;IE get the virus attack first and firefox is kinda uncomfortable being Open source,hackers can get it.
No official facebook support? I can live with out it
I bet if you would take into account only computer engineers and people knowing a bit more about software/hardware, this percentage would be quite a bit larger. I'm not saying it's the best, just with some really good ideas, it was the first.
bah humbug! (if I spelled that right) I use it both on my Android phone (even before my smart phone I used Opera on my flip phone also) and I use it on my desktops. I love Opera and any time I redo a computer for someone, especially from scratch as in a fresh OS install, I install Opera for them.
please please mister law of the universe don't let the suck, I mean zuck, purchase such a great product and taint it!
please please mister law of the universe don't let the suck, I mean zuck, purchase such a great product and taint it!
i used opera for a year and loved it but in the end i switched to chrome because it did not work with most websites i frequent. i even tried the opera 12 builds but they are not paying attention to any website issues. they had their chance and will never go= back to opera