The latest developer release of the Chromium-based Opera web browser has dropped support for 32-bit Mac builds.
Their decision comes shortly after Google announced similar plans for the Mac builds of Google Chrome, which goes 64-bit-only from next month.
Opera say they ‘held off on switching Mac to 64-bit until the benefits outweighed the downsides’, but feel that, as of today, the time is right to switch.
In dropping support for 32-bit Macs the Norwegian software company say they will be able to focus on making use of new 64-bit only APIs in OS X Yosemite and ensure that users benefit from the speed and security improvements the architecture switch has brought to the underlying Chromium base.
Other Changes
Elsewhere in the latest Opera developer 25 update the new ‘experimental’ Speed Dial/start page has been flicked on by default, and H.264 video support is enabled for OS X 10.9 users.
Windows 8 gains a bunch of fixes to the notification delivery system, while all versions see improvements in the recently revamped online installer.
Linux users benefit from integration refinements, including support for content pasting into the URL bar from the Diodon clipboard manager, being able to access recently closed tabs from the Ubuntu menu bar, and a fix for the low-resolution Unity Launcher icon bug.
The Opera developer stream also recently bundled Chromium’s open-source PDFium PDF reader into the browser, allowing for app and plugin-free document reading online.
Opera developer is a free download for Windows, Mac (64bit, 10.9+) and Linux (64bit). It can be installed alongside the stable version, too.
- Source: Opera Developer