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Opera sends 90 out the door

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Re: Opera sends 90 out the door

#51

Post by dottedmag »

avar wrote: post #13
runarb wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A culture crash may have contributed to that so many are leaving. According to the Opera CEO, iOS and Android are the future for Opera now[0]. One could argue that Opera now are in more need of 25 years old iOS developers, that 40+ C++ specialists. 0: http://translate.google.no/translate?sl=no&tl=en&js=...

> One could argue that Opera now are in > more need of 25 years old iOS developers, > that 40+ C++ specialists. One could, but would one not be assuming that their 20+ years of experience wouldn't more than make up for whatever platform-specific skills they'd need to train on which could surely be picked up in less than a year?

It would make up, but it would also come with a hefty price tag.

Re: Opera sends 90 out the door

#52

Post by tobiasbischoff »

By the way: Their year-over-year revenue is up 39% from Q411 to Q412. Most of their revenue is from providing browsing service to mobile operators around the world. very well secured by long term contracts and adjusting the rendering engine should not affect any of that business.

Re: Opera sends 90 out the door

#53

Post by bambax »

azakai wrote: post #40
bobsy wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I thought that all the developer time they are saving would go into improving the browser and only a small number of people would be contributing to WebKit. I.e. browser improves faster as less time is spent working on the browser engine. Now it is obvious. Cost saving! Which is fine, just a bit disappointing. Especially considering how they have 3 products. Opera, Opera Mini and the new Tablet Browser (I don't know…

Opera isn't switching to WebKit, it's switching to the Chromium codebase (which uses WebKit). Chromium is a full browser, so Opera is basically outsourcing it's browser development to Google (which aside from practically all Chromium work also does most WebKit work these days). This makes perfect business sense for Opera - why work hard to make a browser, when it can get one for free. As a plus, that browser uses Web…

But that means Opera is dead. There is no Opera. What is the value of a skin on top of Chrome?

Re: Opera sends 90 out the door

#54

Post by derleth »

bambax wrote: post #53
azakai wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Opera isn't switching to WebKit, it's switching to the Chromium codebase (which uses WebKit). Chromium is a full browser, so Opera is basically outsourcing it's browser development to Google (which aside from practically all Chromium work also does most WebKit work these days). This makes perfect business sense for Opera - why work hard to make a browser, when it can get one for free. As a plus, that browser uses Web…

But that means Opera is dead. There is no Opera. What is the value of a skin on top of Chrome?

> What is the value of a skin on top of Chrome?

Increased profit for the owners of Opera, who are the only corporate masters I know of who make their profits off of a web browser.

Users might prefer the Opera skins, but, frankly, users aren't central to this story. Profits are.

Re: Opera sends 90 out the door

#55

Post by prumek »

wilhelm wrote: post #22

It's worse than the article describes. Those laid off are terrified to say anything publicly. From what I can gather, the total may be double the quoted number. In addition, morale is at rock bottom, with a number of people leaving on their own. Opera as we knew it is gone. I worked for Opera for seven years, three of them managing the core testing team. I left a year ago. It breaks my heart to see how the current ma…

Your conspiracy theory kind of falls flat on its face, since former employees have in fact spoken publicly on this.

What you can gather doesn't seem to be very useful either since the quoted number is correct. It's the number of employees reported by Opera to the authorities. But maybe in your conspiracy, Opera manipulates those numbers to lie to the authorities for some unknown, sinister reason?

How is the current management different from the previous management? Didn't the previous management fire anyone? Oh, they did? And they made up some BS reason to justify it?

Do you know what the reason is stated to be this time around, or did you just assume that they are firing random people to strike fear in people's hearts?

My Gawd.

Edit: Regarding people living in fear, here's one of the former employees speaking out:

"The process, from Opera’s side, was done, IMO, very professionally and the severance package we were offered was voluntary as well as substantial."

Re: Opera sends 90 out the door

#56

Post by prumek »

kmfrk wrote: post #39
tatsuke95 wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "Those laid off are terrified to say anything publicly." I'm curious as to why? Norway doesn't seem like a place where people would fear their ex-employers.

It might not be the worst idea to secure a job, before you go ahead and dish on your former employer.

So it is not actually out of fear for the current management, then? It's just a general fear of speaking of one's former employer if one was let go?

If so, why even mention Opera specifically then?

Re: Opera sends 90 out the door

#57

Post by prumek »

The story is misleading. 90 people have either left of their own free will or were let go for various reasons. Those 90 were not all developers, but included marketing, sales, and other non-engineering staff.

All the comments so far therefore seem to be based on the misconception that they fired their entire Presto development team.

I thought HN was better than this.

Re: Opera sends 90 out the door

#60

Post by prumek »

bambax wrote: post #53
azakai wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Opera isn't switching to WebKit, it's switching to the Chromium codebase (which uses WebKit). Chromium is a full browser, so Opera is basically outsourcing it's browser development to Google (which aside from practically all Chromium work also does most WebKit work these days). This makes perfect business sense for Opera - why work hard to make a browser, when it can get one for free. As a plus, that browser uses Web…

But that means Opera is dead. There is no Opera. What is the value of a skin on top of Chrome?

What makes you think it will just be a skin on top of Chrome?
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