Opera Unite Reinvents The Web

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Opera has just announced Opera Unite a new technology that, according to the company, turns any computer into both a client and a server which allows it to interact with and serve content to other computers directly across the internet without the need for third-party servers. Makes you wonder how long it will be before this is exploited.

Opera Unite makes serving data as simple and easy as browsing the Web. For consumers, Opera Unite services give greater control of private data and make it easy to share data with any device equipped with a modern Web browser. For Web developers, Opera Unite services are based on the same open Web standards as Web sites today. This dramatically simplifies the complexity of authoring cutting-edge Web services. With Opera Unite, creating a full Web service is now as easy as coding a Web page.
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ISP's are not going to like this, but this will also open holes. Basically all they did was integrate a web server into their software that would allow the use of dynamic ip's that most home users have a problem with.
 
ISP are going to love this.

People are going to go over the monthly transfer and bandwidth caps, and the ISPs are going to charge them a fortune for it. They are going to make a killing.


Security issues aside, I'm sure the ISPs are looking at this as an easy way to make more money. With people already streaming/downloading HD movies from iTunes or such; this is just icing on the cake.


Though, I should think that Opera would be aware of the security risks. They've been in server-side rendering/push system for a while, so I should hope they know what they are doing.
 
The only advantage i can see that this thing has is the free proxy support, which is pretty cool. You dont have to setup port forwarding to get around a NAT.

Other than the obvious accessibility benefits this will offer newbies, i think the advantages of running a proper Apache based http server far outweigh what this has to offer.
 
So Opera Unite is spyware? Because the description is pretty much textbook definition of what a lot of spyware does, installs a server and start feeding others over the internet without the need of a third party server.
 
typezero303 said:
ISP are going to love this.

People are going to go over the monthly transfer and bandwidth caps, and the ISPs are going to charge them a fortune for it. They are going to make a killing.


Security issues aside, I'm sure the ISPs are looking at this as an easy way to make more money. With people already streaming/downloading HD movies from iTunes or such; this is just icing on the cake.


Though, I should think that Opera would be aware of the security risks. They've been in server-side rendering/push system for a while, so I should hope they know what they are doing.
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Actually I think it is safe to say that more ISPs don't limit your bandwidth than actually do.So they aren't going to be making a killing off of this.
 
Exavior said:
Actually I think it is safe to say that more ISPs don't limit your bandwidth than actually do.So they aren't going to be making a killing off of this.
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Not to mention, overselling is their game, so if each user starts to rack up will potential, this would be horrible for them.
 
typezero303 said:
Though, I should think that Opera would be aware of the security risks. They've been in server-side rendering/push system for a while, so I should hope they know what they are doing.
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We'll know if they do when this goes live. I would bet that the hackers will be all over it. Unless the server feature is bullet proof, I think this is a disaster waiting to happen.
 
Exavior said:
Actually I think it is safe to say that more ISPs don't limit your bandwidth than actually do.So they aren't going to be making a killing off of this.
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Lord knows they do in Canada. Most people I know have a maximum bandwidth limit of roughly 5Mb, with a total data cap of 60Gigs +/- a couple Gigs a month.

To me, this is an easy way for people to go over their cap, and for the ISPs to charge them an arm and a leg for it.
 
I love Opera and I think they need a useful and attractive feature like this to stay relevant. Way to innovate guys!
 
typezero303 said:
ISP are going to love this.
People are going to go over the monthly transfer and bandwidth caps, and the ISPs are going to charge them a fortune for it. They are going to make a killing.
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That is exactly what opera does for mobile phone carriers already. They get people to use the web so they can charge more then my car payments for a stupid cell phone with a crappy tiny screen and slow access. Can you tell I hate cell phones?
 
WatchDog said:
What is stopping you from using a http server like apache to share your files now? i dont see how this changes anything.
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Essentially they are making it so easy that even someone with below idiot level intelligence can do it. There is also a convenience factor involved. I figured the Opera guys were too busy whining to actually work on something like this, we will see if it actually works.
 
its not opera hate but more MS love :)

Just read back on all threads posted and you will see why they have a sour taste for Opera.

Giving the common user access to their home content at ease opens up a whole lot of trouble for people who run it departments.
 
Bambi005 said:
its not opera hate but more MS love :)

Just read back on all threads posted and you will see why they have a sour taste for Opera.

Giving the common user access to their home content at ease opens up a whole lot of trouble for people who run it departments.
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Not really, just don't allow them to install Opera. Problem solved.
 
I believe they can access their opera unite through their browser of choice
 
Bambi005 said:
its not opera hate but more MS love :)

Just read back on all threads posted and you will see why they have a sour taste for Opera.

Giving the common user access to their home content at ease opens up a whole lot of trouble for people who run it departments.
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God forbid someone in an IT department actually knows something about network administration instead of just how to reimage a drive. God forbid someone in an IT department actually have to do some work.
 
Im not complaining about IT doing their work, im talking about allowing a user to install opera unite on their home computer and gaining easy access to it using the browser of their choice. For us who now know of this being out there can prepare for it, but we all know it is difficult for every IT department to know about stuff like this.
 
Bambi005 said:
I believe they can access their opera unite through their browser of choice
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Sorry i read your first post backwards. I thought you were trying to say they would install it at work and access there stuff at home.

Them access their home stuff like that really isn't much different than how it is now. Although as vengence stated hopefully your "IT" department actually knows how to do something other than install software on a computer.

If a user can already get to webmail, myspace, and photo upload sites then this isn't going to change anything there. They could access this type of stuff before and can access it after.

If you block that type of stuff, then block this.

you are given a [inserusername].operaunite.com URL. Just block that domain and you are fine.

For a real IT department, sure it might give them a little more work to block this some if they need / want. But it shouldn't be trouble for any real IT department. If this is trouble for anyone then they have far larger problems to deal with than this.
 
Bambi005 said:
Im not complaining about IT doing their work, im talking about allowing a user to install opera unite on their home computer and gaining easy access to it using the browser of their choice. For us who now know of this being out there can prepare for it, but we all know it is difficult for every IT department to know about stuff like this.
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Maybe I'm not understanding something fundamental here. But this doesn't do anything but make things that are currently possible easier to do. A good security setup should stop something from happening even if the chance of someone knowing how to do it is remote.
 
Awesome now they can cry to the EU that Microsoft needs to stop shipping IE and IIS with Windows lol.

Seriously does anyone even use opera anymore?
 
^^^

As i mentioned in another thread, Opera Mini FTW
 
Bambi005 said:
Giving the common user access to their home content at ease opens up a whole lot of trouble for people who run it departments.
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Opera supports a global preference file that admins can use to override Opera settings for all users. Not sure if it's supported yet, but eventually, admins should be able to disable Unite globally with ease just like they can do with other Opera settings.
 
:pI have Opera, Safari, IE8, and Firefox installed on my system. They're all free so why not?
 
450 said:
:pI have Opera, Safari, IE8, and Firefox installed on my system. They're all free so why not?
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Because one of those can kill you in your sleep, another one causes cancer, the third is the devil in software form, and the 4th is the second comming of Christ. I won't spoil the surprise for you though :D
 
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