Opera Unite is coined as being a web server in a web browser, but it's a actually a lot more than that - it brings a community to your browser. To start with you need to download a Beta of Opera 10 which includes this new feature and then when you're installed and ready you'll get a new icon in the status bar and in the side panel (if you use it). If you click this icon you can then add your current computer to Opera Unite by simply registering a new Opera account or logging in with an existing one, followed by specifying a name for what computer you're using.
Once you've done this you will get a new panel appear with the following sections:
- File Sharing
- Fridge
- Media Player
- Photo Sharing
- The Lounge
- Web Server
The file sharing section sounds straight forward enough - you specify a folder and you immediately begin sharing files in that folder. It's not open to the whole world either, the security settings default to being "limited" - a password must be entered when accessing the files via a specific URL. It does sound like it might be fairly secure, but I'm yet to hear about any weaknesses in it. It's also possible to make all files in the folder public, or private depending on what you prefer. If it's private then only you can access them; unlike the limited option there is no way for other people to be allowed access.
The fridge is an interesting concept, and could probably be considered a more localised and personal form of Twitter. It allows you and others to leave small Post-It notes (limited to 40 characters) on a fridge. When I tried it from my Mac it worked great and I was able to post on colleagues fridges as well. However when I got home and installed it on a Windows machine I found it wouldn't work for me. Every time I click "Add note" and then start to type it would just scroll down the page and nothing would appear in the new Post-It note.
The Media Player works similar to the file sharing option - you specify a folder to share and then you get the same privacy options as before. In this mode you also get useful filters and sort options to easily navigate through your shared music. You can also play your music straight from the browser using this page as well. It's also clever enough to know if you add files which aren't music to the folder as well and will ignore them. Photo sharing is a similar sort of thing except it shows thumbnails of the images and when clicking on them you can view a larger version and also email them to a friend.
The Lounge is basically a chat room where you are the host, and you can invite people to chat with you. If you're discussing anything which is private, or you just don't want anyone else to join then you can also enable a password for it.
The final option, the webserver, isn't really any different to the Media Player, the Photo sharing, and the file sharing in terms of how you use it. The difference however is that once you've added an index.html it will then start serving the webpage from a different URL.
Personally I think there are a few things I'd change with it given the option - photos, media and file sharing I think would have been better off all in a single interface where what interactions are available differ depending on the media type. In terms of collaboration I think it will be an amazing tool for companies to use, however I don't think an average user will reap the same benefits.
I think the file sharing part of it I could occasionally find useful if I need to share files between home and work but don't have a USB memory drive on me at the time (though normally in that circumstance I'd just email it) or if I want to transfer larger files to friends. The fridge I don't currently have a user for - I use Twitter instead (@jedi58). Media Player I doubt I will use at all, nearly all my music files cannot legally be shared over the internet as they are ones purchased over iTunes or have been ripped from a CD I own. For photosharing I use Flickr and Facebook, so again no personal need for that. I'd be interested to hear what uses for Opera Unite people have found so far, so please feel free to leave your suggestions in the comments.
