In short Opera Unite turns your browser into a web server. A long awaited eventuality in my opinion. So why should you care? This article will spell out what the big deal is and is it worth switching to Opera for.

So What is The Big Deal

The goal of Opera Unite is to turn every personal computer into a server. This way computers will be able to communicate directly with one another. Here is Opera’s video that explains how this all works. So what’s the big deal? A server on your personal machine isn’t exactly a new technology. The beauty of Opera Unite is that it literally takes 2 minutes to setup. I gave this a try yesterday and I was surprised at how easy it was. Sign-up for a user account, start the service, and you are good to go. Here is another video that will show you the setup process. With it being so easy to install and use, this means people might actually use it. If the masses start using this technology, it can drastically change how the internet is used. The internet now doesn’t allow for true interactivity. Although social sites are bridging that gap, you can only post what those services allow you to post. Imagine being socially connected without limitations as to what you can post (Images, playlists, songs, videos…etc)…pretty exciting stuff. In fact Microsoft has already gone this route with their windows home server. Same sort of goal, but the difference is it cost money, and it’s not built into your browser.

The Down Side

There are some problems that I can foresee. One is that people close their browsers, if your browser is closed people can’t access you stuff. Quickly it becomes a crap shoot to see if the person is online or not. There is no way anyone will want to keep the Opera browser minimized just so people can see your website. There should be an option to leave it running in the background if the user chooses to do so. My Second issue is that there aren’t a lot of Opera users out there for this to take hold. Opera has always been known for its innovations and I think this is a worthy idea that other browsers might copy. If that is the case the idea might expand…kind of like tabbed web surfing. My last concern would be security. If everybody can access your files, so can hackers. I know there will be someone out there that will say…hmmm.. I think I’ll share my entire hard drive and make it public. I’m hoping there is no way to find out the users IP address or those users could be in trouble.

Conclusion

Opera’s innovations are truly impressive. I think they’ve built a fantastic browser, if I wasn’t attached to my Firefox addons I would consider switching over. I hope other browsers take notice, because I really think this is where the future of the web should be heading. Right now Unite has just basic services, but I think with developers help there could be some truly astounding stuff going on.

Download Opera Unite and have a look for yourself.