Opera released version 9.50 of their browser today, and it looks very, very good. I have already written about the beta release of this new version in my blog , but there have been a few notable changes made in the final release. The graphics and cosmetics have been improved, and the tab bar in particular has a new look and feel which I find much nicer.

I have already installed the new release on Ubuntu, XP Professional and Vista Business, and it all went very smoothly. I understand that the "general wisdom", or at least the "popular trend" for those who want to get away from Microsoft Internet Explorer is to go to Firefox, and I use Firefox as well, of course. But I would encourage anyone to take a look at Opera; the Speed Dial feature alone is worth a lot, and the innovative way that Opera handles the address/search bar is wonderful.

Update: I see that Firefox has made a 3.0 RC 3 release . I wonder what that's all about? As I recall, when RC 1 was released, they were saying that they might not even make an RC 2... now they are up to RC 3... hmmm. Anyway, the Firefox 3 "Release Day" has been set for next Tuesday, 17 June, so keep it in mind.