What’s new

Well I heard of Unite very recently….and actually got to use it only after installing Opera two days back. It was a long time since I’d used Opera…the last time I think when 9.6 was around…maybe it’s just a mindset but I (and many others I know) never saw Opera as a default browsing option, but more like a standby to Firefox, or sometimes Chrome. But the new Opera 10.10 looks very much set to change all of that…it feels light and zippy, and the interface is soothing and soft…for me, it’s a welcome change to the sharp lines of Chrome.

The major improvement is in speed…Opera says it uses some compression algorithm or something….whatever it is, it’s new Presto rendering engine seems to be more than able to rival Chrome’s Webkit, Safari’s Nitro and definitely Firefox’ Gecko (and I should think it’s customary by now to leave IE out of the discussion when browser speeds are being talked about )

But more than speed, what’s creating waves about this new Opera launch is something called Opera Unite…a new concept that might just change the way people normally share files online. What we generally use to share files is a system called the ‘client-server’ architecture. What Unite does is turn your PC into a client, as well as a server; allowing you to share data across several computers without the requirement of a third-party server.


Let me try to explain in more simple terms. Suppose you want to share a few photos with your friend. What you’d normally do, is upload your photos to a photo sharing website like Flickr, Photobucket or PicasaWeb; and then send them the link with the password. You could also e-mail the photos as attachments. But what if the photos you want to share are high-resolution, and large in number? Then e-mail sharing is out of question, as there are file size limits to attachments. Also, in the case of photo-sharing websites, you have limits to the total upload (unless you are a paid member, but even if that is the case, it is cumbersome and time-consuming to upload hundreds of megabytes of photos and especially so if you happen to have a low bandwidth connection). Or similarly if you wish to share a big file (a PSD file, RAW image, a HD video, etc), it can be quite taxing to upload it someplace and then share it. Moreover, from an Indian perspective, where ISP’s  impose download/upload limits in most internet plans, it can be impossible for someone to share a considerably sized file.


It is here where Unite comes in and makes the sharing process a breeze. And it’s so simple, anybody without any prior file-sharing experience could easily do it. In the client-server architecture, the files you upload are stored on a server, which is usually a high-capacity mainframe or other powerful computer with high file storage and processing capabilities. Then, the person who you want to share the file(s) with, downloads the file from the server.
But what Unite does, is that it hosts the files from your computer itself, i.e, your PC is sort of a  mini-server now! So now whoever you want to share data with can download the requisite files directly from you, instead of using any via-media. This simplifies things a lot, and is very very advantageous in the following ways…

• You no longer need to upload the file from your computer, so if you have any limits on your uploads, you no longer need to worry…
• You can share huge files in a jiffy…in fact if you wish, you can share all the contents of your computer and/or any external media; and also the contents of your local network which you have access to.
• This way of sharing is more secure, as there is no third-party involved; the transaction takes place only between the people concerned.