Opera Unite: a server within the browser. Opera innovating as it used to

[urlwolf]

http://www.opera.com/press/releases/2009/06/16/

What do you think?

[justice]

From what I can read on the official site and walkthrough:

Very confusing name - it took me a few minutes to understand what it was. also the server connotation doesn't really help - I would describe it as p2p for personal data. Then again when doing something now it's hardto accurately position it.
Great idea - just enabling functionality to cut out the middle man. No worrying about how much data you can use. Great that you can write applications on it.

How are they going to market? It's promoted very techy for something that tries to take away the techy side of things. They should look at dropbox and apple. Reinvents the web doesn't do anything for me. But a p2p for personal data and applikcation platform sounds very cool.

Now of course I'm looking for the Opera Unite app store, is there any - I don't see anything obvious - maybe after installing it.

[justice]

I see a FAQ on why is my service rejected so it seems they are looking into going that appstore route, which is great - so I'm wondering why they haven't got enough services in there yet to advertise them.

[Ampa]

Just installed it - too early to say what my opinion is; but I agree that it is too difficult to describe in the way they are currently marketing it!

Now, if only I had some friends, then I could test it!

Update: Played with a few of the apps / widgets now, and am surprised by the lack of configurability or Web2.0-ness.

For example - the Fridge app lets me add tiny notes (40 characters, which is almost too short!) to anyone's message board, but there is no control over placement, colour, font, or size. Also the Fridge door has a number of fridge magnets on it, adding to the theme, but I can't move these, or customise them in any way.

Sure, this is only release 1 and essentially a proof of concept, so I guess these things will come with time; but what a missed opportunity to capture people's imagination!

Rightly or wrongly, I'd be much more likely to use Fridge if I could add my own Cody magnet and make my notes turquisoe and purple!

[fenixproductions]

With my love+hate Opera relationship I can only wish them the best.

Personally: I don't like an idea of sharing personal info via P2P. I also wish serious biting for their heads. That is the only way for them to not to repeat their desktop browser marketing scenario. I wrote it many times in the past: they were always advertising Opera as something for tech guys (call them chosen ones) and never understood that they should start with "Even monkey can do it". Mozilla did it perfectly

[f0dder]

Lousy press release - too little information for the technically inclined, too geeky text for regular users.

Sounds like a pretty bad idea to me. Room for a lot of security holes, and unless content is decentralized (which imposes lots of problems!) you're going to have availability issues when users turn off their machines.

OSNews has a news article on this as well.

[fenixproductions]

2f0dder
Agreed.

When did they start advertising? 3 or 4 days ago? They should go with 2 weeks at least with teasers and press coverage… or something like that. They definitely have "premature e…" bussines model.

- We did it!
- ?
- We're done!
- What?

I am starting to believe that I would be better marketing person for Opera than the one they already have (smaller salary as additional advantage). Please, Opera, take me

[justice]

To be fair this is a first preview isn't it or alpha.

[f0dder]

To be fair this is a first preview isn't it or alpha.

Sure thing, but I'm commenting on the whole idea behind it, not the product implementation...

[fenixproductions]

To be fair this is a first preview isn't it or alpha.

Agree but I saw many things in the past that did not change after being marked as stable.

I.e. Opera synchronize feature still does not allow you to easily choose the way of synchronizing. More ranting…

[Josh]

And along with what fenix said, many features opera "implements" tend to stagnate after final release.

[Ampa]

Many features opera "implements" tend to stagnate after final release.

That certainly happened with the Widgets. I installed a few such as the calculator, colour picker and tv guide when the feature was first added, but over the years all have been replaced by websites or better external tools.

With Unite the alternatives already exist, so Opera will have to do something very special if this is really to take off. The user interface and associated jargon will make or break the product, and given that 50% of the comments on this and every other site on the web are of the nature "Eh? What? Can someone explain what this actually is?" today's launch seems to be doing more harm than good!

[kartal]

This sounds great, but why would I need to signup with them to run a web server?. I like the idea and I think that is how it will be in the future but I am not signing up with anyone so that they can direct my connection(and who knows what else)

Here is a dead simple http server for file sharing, no signup no nothing is required. Just run and give your ip adress

http://www.rejetto.com/hfs/

[Lashiec]

The user interface and associated jargon will make or break the product, and given that 50% of the comments on this and every other site on the web are of the nature "Eh? What? Can someone explain what this actually is?" today's launch seems to be doing more harm than good!

Heh, looks like we're reading different sites :). Most people seem to understand what Unite is about, and negative comments are mostly directed to the possible security and copyright implications, apart from the typical "Opera" comments, ya know ;)

The idea surely sounds nice and cool, its success depends on what developers achieve with it, and what hurdles Opera create for the service, I hope they do not go their own way as always, and that they learned something from the iPhone App Store (treat your users and your developers right). If it goes well, I can see people using this to set up access to their home computer from everywhere and using any device, kind like a personal file server, but with more possible uses in the future (your own Remember the Milk, for example?). Also, developers could create replacements for popular web services, and in case one of them go down, you could continue to use it from your own computer.

After a sympathetic opinion, a critical analysis. He gained a reader, and Asa Dotzler recovered one feed subscription :D

The most impressive thing about Unite is that Opera managed to generate buzz and get everyone talking about it in a couple of days. Well done, even more considering that the release of the first beta of Opera went mostly ignored by the tech pundits, while broken alphas of Chrome for Linux and Mac received widespread coverage.

[Lutz_]

To me Opera Unite sounds like a very cool project. I guess the opportunities are tremendous for creative developers.  The plans seem to be going in part into the direction of Google Wave, which itself seems very elegant.  I really do not mind the required usage of a free Opera account. What worries me a bit is the ecological side of the technology - everybody is going to run his own private server at home 24/7 and happily keep burning the kilowatts?