Former Opera CEO Launches Vivaldi: The Power Browser

Last week Microsoft announced a new browser, Project Spartan. That’s not the only news in the browser wars as the ex CEO of Opera has just announced a new browser as well, Vivaldi. This new browser is available for Windows, Mac and Linux and although it is still in its infancy, it offers a number of features, which Opera lovers will remember. The application allows for mouse gestures for browsing and the ever familiar “speed dial” interface, which shows your favourite tabs on the new tab page is also a feature.

Vivaldi has some new tools too, like Multiple tabs. Tabs can now be combined into one to allow for simple browsing of associated sites. For example, if you were looking into your family tree online, you can group all the tabs on that topic into a single saved space. 

Another great feature lets you take notes and create screenshots directly in the browser. This makes it easier to remember why you needed a page.

Vivaldi is a rapid browser th

t’s very similar to Opera in many ways. The interface of the browser fades colours to match the dominant colour on the page, as you navigate between sites. The browser has been designed with Power Users in mind as there are features such as ‘quick commands’, which helps to search or run commands that are the same as in OS X’s Spotlight.

Vivaldi is using the Chromium (Blink) rendering engine, which is found in Chrome, but the browser is almost completely constructed using modern web technologies including Node.js, React and a number of Node modules. Vivaldi is a new project started by former CEO and co-founder of Opera, Jon von Tetzchner. After leaving Opera back in 2011, Tetzchner founded Vivaldi in December of 2013.

Currently the browser is only a technical preview, but in the coming months, there are plans afoot to add mail support, sync, better performance and extensions. Vivaldi is currently available as a technical preview for Windows, Mac or Linux.