I have been using Opera since at least 2005 because I remember how Opera was ad-supported and I would use the appearance of ads as an indicator that my Internet was working. Now I am using Opera version 12. Although new versions have since been released, I never bothered to update because previously I just let Opera auto update. Since it didn't seem to do that anymore, I just kept on using Opera version 12 because it really is a good web browser, any improvements in newer versions would just be icing on an already delicious cake.

The other day, my partner commented that I was still using the old version of Opera, so I decided to check it out. I downloaded Opera 17 last night and installed it. I didn't have time to try it out at the time, but now that I'm home from work, time to see what I've been missing…

Apparently I'm not missing much at all >.>

I opened the browser and I am greeted with a blank tab. Ok, so time to do what I usually do in Opera: open up my favourite websites and read through them.

Ah, where are my bookmarks? I click around the interface hoping to find an icon or button that would take me to my bookmarks. So I click the Opera menu button in the top left corner, read through the immediate menu items but see no bookmarks.

I hover down to the "More tools" menu option which pops out another menu with a few more things to choose from. One of the sub menu items is "Synchronize…" I think to myself "Ah! That's why I can't find my bookmarks. I need to synchronise first.".

Opera Link is one of my favourite features of Opera. I can install Opera on any PC or laptop, synchronise my Opera Link then voila! All my bookmarks are there. So I immediately click it, anticipating that my bookmarks will soon be populated in Opera 17.

Another tab is opened asking me to log in to Opera Link. So far so good, it has been a while since I needed to log in to Opera Link so I was hoping that I remembered my password correctly. In the meantime, the tab that was opened initially which I had assumed was just a blank tab, now had speed dial on it, and it was slowly loading snapshots of the websites that I had on my Speed Dial in Opera 12, thought that it was an unacceptably long time to just load Speed Dial.

Back to logging into Opera Link. Success! I still do remember my password. But my joy in remembering my password soon turned to dismay as I read the message that now appeared on my sceen:

Don't worry – your bookmarks are safe!
We're working to improve synchronization and make it more integrated with our next generation of browsers.
But, for now, you can use this web interface to access your bookmarks and other data.
Thanks for bearing with us.

So… if I wanted to access my bookmarks, I would have to log in to Opera Link via Opera's website where my bookmarks seem to be listed according to the date they were added to Opera Link, rather than the more logical and easier-to-navigate alphabetical order. No thanks…

No bookmarks, no way. I closed Opera 17 and opened Opera 12 which was still installed on my PC. I went through a similar shock when I updated the Opera Mini browser on my phone and found that my bookmarks no longer automatically synced with Opera Link, but at the very least, they were available through "Legacy Bookmarks".

I don't think I will touch a new version of Opera until they restore the functionality of Opera Link!