Ask DLS: what do you think about Opera Unite 24 hours later?
For once, Opera did a good job of marketing their browser. They managed to keep us all (mostly) in the dark about how they planned on reinventing the web, build a decent amount of hype, and finally sprung Unite on us yesterday.
It was built up as a "democratization" of the web because you own your data and Unite gives you a way to declare your independence from cloud-based services.
I don't know about you, but the luster wore off pretty quickly for me. Here's why:
It was built up as a "democratization" of the web because you own your data and Unite gives you a way to declare your independence from cloud-based services.
I don't know about you, but the luster wore off pretty quickly for me. Here's why:
- I don't like parts of the EULA very much. Specifically, this one:
"...we have the right to refuse to post, edit, or deliver submitted User Generated Content. We reserve the right to remove User Generated Content for any reason, but we are not responsible for any failure or delay in removing such material. We reserve the right to block any user's access to any content, web site or web page in our sole discretion. Opera Software ASA reserves the right to terminate your account if you use your account privileges to unlawfully transmit copyrighted material without a license, valid defense or fair use privilege to do so...Opera Software ASA may at it's discretion, block certain web sites or domains and re-route you to other pages. By accepting these Terms of Use, You hereby consent to this."
That file sharing function? Don't point it at your MP3 collection. Furthermore, how un-Democratic is that? Unite is supposed to free you from the cloud, but Opera gets to hold their finger over the red button?
- Continuing on that theme, I don't like that all Unite data must pass through Opera's proxy server. It has to if they want to be able to police content, of course. But that kind of blows the whole "reclaim your independence from servers" assertion out of the water.
- In a discussion with CNet, an Opera spokesperson said "Be a bit cautious." Why? There's no encryption. Does it pose a risk? Not really, says Opera. When she was asked if the platform could be used by an unauthorized person to access data on a machine running Unite, the response was "Definitely not -- unless they're a hacker." Uh, wait...So does it pose a risk or not?
- Ironically, Opera's demo features don't even adhere to their own rules. Example: "The service must not have obvious bugs, so ensure that you test it before uploading[...]The service should serve standards-compliant HTML pages that are viewable in all modern browsers on a variety of devices."
So why couldn't I get the media player to work in Firefox?
- I don't want to share directly from my machine. With my ISP, uploading seriously chokes my bandwidth. Someone else wants to serve my files for me for free? Great, sign me up! Other apps I've been using for ages make sharing photos and streaming my music so simple that Unite's function really isn't an advantage.
What's your take?