Pwn2Own: Internet Explorer 8, 7 vs. Firefox 3 vs. Chrome 4 vs. Safari 4

Probably for the same reason as last year. If you want an actual answer, ask on their blog and not here.

Oh, and the safest browser is clearly Lynx or Links on *BSD.

well, there are many reasons opera is frequently (or almost always) dropped by such tests/initiatives:

1: opera alienated and belitled developers for much too long. no tools (dragonfly is still THE crap, that cant do basics), bad documentation, uncertain development path, uncertain stance on some opera implementations etc. who makes the web? developers. do not f.. with them. it takes NO effort to ignore opera, it takes A LOT to make complex things work in this thing. noone has an obligation, you know.

1b: opera ‘standards support’. their motto: ‘lets implement cutting edge useless stuff just to be first – SVG’ while console.log support waits and waits. there are ‘standards’ and ‘standards’. opera never opted for reality. there are dozens of important stuff (not css3 magic, this is not IMPORTANT) that stops opera from being treated well by webpages. if opera wants to be served the same code as other browsers, it better be able to eat this code. right now, it cant.

2: it ‘doesnt work’. flash issues, silverlight issues, gears not working, java acting weird, video plugins misbehaving… all in one, neat package. there are too many examples to blame 3rd parties. opera did something very wrong with their plugin architecture. and who cares about a browser you cant use normaly? other browsers, heck, even ancients like ff 1.5 can use these plugins no problem. so maybe it is THEM that follow some kind of standard?

3: no corporate love. opera NEVER was able to use NTLM properly, NEVER was able to use sharepoint, opera NEVER could maintain session across corpo proxy networks in windows environment. you spend more time at work than at home. if you cant use opera there, it doesnt exist.

4: very very poor opera PR. opera ignores contests like these, they never contact organisators, never try to solve problems that stop opera entry. remember that ‘game canvas test’? authors said it clear ‘opera has JS issues’. what opera did? nothing. and it was a perfect oportunity to fix those, release labs build and get +1 PR. not that these bugs arent afecting other real world pages.

5: no marketing. most guys do not know about opera. and they do not give a f.. about opera mini. it is a poor’s man browser. guys making such contests are always on cutting edge. there is no opera in cutting edge yet. opera for android or iphone? great initiatives, release them! until then – they do not exist.

you really think that there is world wide conspiracy against opera? if opera fixes all these, and problem persists, then we might talk about that.

until then, opera is the most beautifull browser (thanks Hicks!) that simply sux in real life. people do not want compromises, opera asks them to make them giving no reason why they should.

they arent buying it.

version 4 hasn’t been released yet