Jon von Teztschner, founder of both Opera and Vivaldi, has poopooed industry rumblings about a future where search is integrated into all apps.
When pressed about the likelihood of this prediction – and the subsequent downfall of browsers – he threw some shade at the big boys of the internet.
“I mean they call their browser Chrome! From their perspective, it shouldn’t be visible. That’s been their official stance. So basically what they’re saying is that their goal is going to happen,” Teztschner told Trusted Reviews, when discussing the possible demise of the traditional browser.
Related: A new version of Opera has just landed
He thinks browsers will remain necessary if we want to have control over how we access the internet. And according to the current Vivaldi CEO, a Google backlash could be right around the corner, as people wise up to data-harvesting.
“Our big competitors say that they’re able to provide great services because of all the data they have – but the reality is they don’t need all that data to provide the services, and they’re not that great,” says Jon.
He also reckons that the reason that these services aren’t great is because of that data-harvesting-revenue model. “It influences decisions – like they’ll make bookmark functions that are hardly usable because it monetises better that way.”
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Unsurprisingly, Jon is keen to contrast his own browser against these companies, which doesn’t monetise off data.
“We hope and believe that a lot of people will be starting to use Vivaldi as we grow and as we get the word out,” he says. “So many large companies are going out with their stories on why they need to collect data and I think it’s important that there are others that speak out and say differently.”
Keen to try out the latest version of Vivaldi? You can download it here.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
