Opera announced today that its November 23 launch of Opera version 10.10 has shattered previous download records. Within one week, 12.5 million people downloaded the Web browser's latest build. This marks a 25% increase from the download rate of Opera 10, which the company released only two months earlier.
Opera 10.10 promised to "reinvent the Web" with a new featured dubbed "Unite". Unite turns any computer into both a client and a server, supporting things like file transfers, media streaming and photo sharing without using third party products. The most recent version also brought "Opera Turbo", a server-side optimization and compression technology that improves browsing speeds by compressing network traffic.
"With such remarkable download numbers, I am confident that we truly appealed to the needs of the Web-using public," said Opera CEO Jon von Tetzchner. The company also said its browser currently has about 45 million active desktop users – a drop in the bucket – and millions more on other devices. If you're among that handful of people, let's hear your impression of Opera 10.10 and why you prefer it to other, more popular solutions.