Another beta of Opera 9 Web browser is finally out (previous beta came out like last October or something) and it features support for widgets -- small apps that run on the desktop, providing info like the current weather in Oxford or the lastest headlines from the "unbiased" Reuters.
"Even if it is a Web page, people don't have to go to the browser to see it," says an Opera spokeshuman in a CNET article.
I don't get widgets. I've scrolled through the list of widgets available from Yahoo, and found zero widgets of interest. This isn't new, of course. Windows 98 already had the ability to display the desktop as a Web page. Anyone ever use that feature? I thot not.
I've seen widgets running on other people's computers, and wondered why I need to minimize all apps in order to see the desktop, and to learn of the weather in Lexington.
Contra to the Opera spokesman, I, a people, prefer Web pages in Web browers. With a single click, I know the weather in Abbotsford. A place for everything, and everything in its place. I like collections of information, like the customized home pages of Yahoo and Goolge that I've created.
The Opera spokespersons statement contains a flaw: when he says "...people don't have to go to the browser..." could also say, "people don't need Opera."
Comments