Opera Sings Less Security Problems

One area where Opera and Firefox users both benefit has been security, and that has been the reason for many people to switch from Microsoft's Internet Explorer to other options on the Windows platform. Firefox holds around 10 percent of the global browser market share, with IE at about 86 percent, so Opera and other browser choices are not on nearly as many desktops.

That has provided some "security by obscurity" for Opera users. Like the Macintosh computer, virus writers and other cretins have not targeted Opera in the ways they have IE.

Opera has been responsive on security issues, and the Secunia advisory tracking site shows a scant 13 advisories, all patched, for the Opera browser since 2003. 12 of the 13 occurred in 2005, and one in 2004. Compare that to Microsoft, which patched ten flaws in IE just in the month of April 2006.