Opera finally did it. after almost 3 years of a very very slow initiative for Widgets that brought them as part of the Opera browser, they are finally getting real with their ambitions. they now launched a Open Widget SDK so everyone can build widget and be part of the now very strong Opera Browser Ecosystem.
Opera has been a company that has found nothing but troubles and a lukewarm reception in the Desktop because of their reticence to play with the big browser plugin and browser desktop extension players. i am talking of course Adobe, Microsoft and Sun. and also have found obstacles for going too far to adopt yet to proven and in development web standards.
Something that they have paid dearly having just captured 3% of the desktop browser marketshare. it didn`t helped either that Opera Browser was a paid product until some years ago. otherwise Opera would may be what firefox is today.
Even then Opera did many things first than anyone. in terms of widgets. they have gone even further by adding the widget engine in the browser and they have brought that concept to their mobile browser versions. the latest Opera Mini incorporates a limited version of this but Opera 9.0 for smartphone is the one who is going to bring the exact same kind of widgets you see in the desktop version of opera to the mobile web.
And then some. Opera is also in the devices browsing game and got a version of their browser for the Wii, DS and even a specific PS3 and PSP version to come out later (or so it was said)
So, thanks to their stubbornness and determination to push things further even when some of their concept were crazy at times. it paid off and Opera is without a doubt the #1 browser for mobiles and devices. a market that will be as big as the current Common Computer market and where they truly don`t face any competition.
On Opera Open Widget SDK
Many people has already gone their way to compare it with Apple Iphone SDK. something i find totally wrong because they are different kind of ecosystems and not anywhere close to be as developed as the one Opera is aiming for.
I would compare Opera Open Widget SDK launch to the way Microsoft is managing XNA or Silverlight. in the case of XNA, the game building is of course closed to the Windows Ecosystem (xbox,zune,pc, Windows Mobile, Surface). but it serves as a way to compare how the games are supposed to scale no matter the kind of device they are in. the same goes for silverlight that is also going to reach the entire Windows Ecosystem but will reach further into Mac, Linux, symbian, android, etc.
Opera is going places with this and i welcome their actions because that means there will be a Widget platform that will truly be pretty much everywhere. So i see this as a response to Google. Google Gadget initiative is also going to go this way and be everywhere. so it is good to know they will have some competition and that people will have to Options to choose from if they are not in Apple or Windows that got pretty much their own ecosystems covered.
I also expect that Google will now offer their response to this at any time. so it be interesting how they stack up.
Right now there is everything for those interested in the Opera Widget SDK to get started:
- Introductory Guides
- Guide and courses to get started and build your first Opera Widgets
- Documentation
- Full documentation of the technology, ways Opera works with standards, and supplemental software that works with it.
- Mobile and cross device development
- Just what i was talking about. how to make sure your widget will be cross device ready and what that means for you.
- Tools
- The main tools you will be working with while doing Opera Widget development:
- *Dragonfly: opera version of Firebug to fully debug your Widget
- *Dom Inspector so you can monitor and look how your widget interacts with the Dom
- *Widget Emulator: have a look to how your widget will render cross device so you can adjust it based on the power of the destination it is supposed to run in
- Libraries
- JavaScript libraries to ease the development, one for the animation of your widget and one for the media detection in the widget.
- Working with web technologies
- In case you want extend your widget and how to make it work with other web tech.
- Web sites
- Where to hang out if you develop Opera widgets
With a quite wealthily Amount of where, what and how to do information in those areas. so, lets get it on. i do wonder if this will have any traction in the desktop or only in the mobile web. either way. it is well welcomed.
Coverage to this to follow as it develops.
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