As if trying to steal Firefox's thunder, Opera was strategically launched days before Firefox 3's Guinness Book Record opening. The lean mean browsing machine has just got a whole lot meaner and leaner, though not in download size - 6.8MB; the install size is now more than double the size of its previous iteration at 3MB, one MB short of Firefox 3 install size.
Opera 9.5 has gone through many changes with a revamped address bar (that rivals Firefox 3 Awesome Bar), better content blocking, simplified download box, and most importantly faster performance and tighter memory use. Opera has altered its looks too, with a much more Vista-ish feel 3D obsidian look.

More than a browser

One thing I should bring to you attention is that Opera is more than just a browser. It's a browser, email client, rss reader, IRC chat client and newsgroup reader all rolled into a one-stop-Internet-shop (so to speak). True Firefox can be all this and much morebut I'm talking about out-of-the-box experience, which generally indicates what direction the makers of Opera are heading towards. Extensibility by third-party apps is for net savvy people, not for your usual mom' and pop's who'd like to surf the net.

The best part is that all these apps can be accessed through the handy side panel, which is well integrated with the browser. So when a new message arrives, a small window discreetly rises in the lower right-hand corner of your screen to alert you.
Another surprising functionality is the capability of Opera to handle torrents. It has a BitTorrent client built-in that no other browser offers. Even the search bar has a BitTorrent search option. Yes, this certainly will not match the capabilities of a full-fledged torrent client like utorrent, but is a good readymade feature slapped right in for those who can make some limited use of it.