Norwegian browser developer Opera Software ASA has released Opera 12.01 FINAL, the latest stable build of its cross-platform, freeware web browser. Version 12.01 is a minor release, consisting mainly of bug fixes and security patches.
This follows the release of version 12, which boasted vastly improved startup times, experimental hardware acceleration, Do Not Track privacy features and 64-bit support on Windows and Mac. Version 12.01 follows shortly after Opera NEXT 12.50 released a new snapshot, previewing new features via a publicly available alpha build.
The key fixes in Opera 12.01 are cross-platform, and include non-specified fixes and stability improvements as well as a number of specific changes. There are improvements to memory usage when generating website thumbnails, for example, while favicons will no longer be excessively squeezed when a large number of tabs have been opened.
Opera 12 introduced support for lightweight themes to customise the browser.
The browser’s inline auto-complete feature has also been tweaked so it no longer prefers the shortest domain, while those using the mail component will be pleased to learn a crash involving mail databases on startup as been resolved as well as bugs involving inline HTML images and manually inserted images in the Compose window.
Certain site and service-specific fixes have also been implemented, most notably one that generated secure transaction errors when attempting to access Twitter. Other fixed services include both Google Map Labs and Yahoo! Chat.
Five security fixes have also been implemented, but those looking for major new features will be disappointed. Instead, they should take a closer look at Opera NEXT 12.50, which can be installed alongside the existing stable version of Opera.
New features that can currently be previewed in Opera NEXT 12.50 include more hardware acceleration support and HTML5 drag-and-drop improvements. Mountain Lion users can now choose between receiving notifications via Growl or the new built-in Notification Center, while a new implementation of the clipboard API aims to make it easier to cut, copy and paste both plain text and HTML from the browser window. The latest alpha build also sees the end of an era, as Windows 2000 support is dropped.
Opera 12.01 FINAL is a freeware download for Windows, Mac and Linux, while Opera NEXT 12.50 is also available for all platforms, but as an alpha build should be used with extreme caution.