At the time when “My Opera Community” closed, we first heard of Vivaldi. You announced that you will start constructing a similar community that would allow long-time users to have a new place to continue with their activities. What was the idea behind this new project, and what are you and your team trying to achieve with it?

Jon: When we launched this new project, we already had an idea to work on a completely new browser. So, it was natural to start with a community that already had a large number of users of a browser they loved. They had nowhere to go, so we made a place for them. At the same time, we proceeded with the Vivaldi browser which we designed according to the needs of the community and users, who have used Opera for many years.

Who are the founders of Vivaldi and the first employees in this company?

Jon: The first employees of the new company were certainly people with whom I worked closely in the Opera. In the early days, we met in secret to discuss the things that moved us, things that actually drove us to unite in creating a new product. At the beginning we hired several former Opera employees, but I quickly realized that I have many friends in Iceland that could also help us in building Vivaldi, so the company is a kind of mix my former colleagues and my friends from Iceland.

Is Vivaldi a hobby project or will you try to build a “real” company with your team?

Jon: Currently the company has 25 employees, which clearly shows that this is not a side project. Our desire is to create a browser with an amazing community behind it, and we plan to invest a lot of resources in the whole thing.

We have already created quite a stir in the world of Internet browsers just because we are working on something totally different. In a place where leading browsers offer simple solutions to a large number of users, we strive to offer our users with a product that is packed with rich technical features, specifically shaped according to their advanced and ever growing needs.

Today’s browsers are mainly simple products that can be customized according to user requirements with a large choice of add-ons or plug-ins. Can we expect a similar philosophy with Vivaldi, or more of an Opera-like approach trying to create a powerful “package” that will in itself have all those features that the power user needs?

Jon: Our plan is to create a unique, fast and feature-rich browser that does not use too many resources like many of today’s solutions, and which will allow users to have significant functionality within the browser itself. Vivaldi is based on the Chromium engine, which is used by many browsers of today, so one of the benefits is that our solution will also be upgradeable with a large number of plugins and extensions. The whole team is thinking outside the box, and coming up with new ways to improve existing and well-established processes in using the everyday browser.

One of the reasons why Opera was so popular among the technical community was a unique “Presto” engine powering the browser. Which was the primary reason that averted you from developing a custom engine for Vivaldi?

Jon: “Presto” is simply great. I would say it has perfect code execution. At that time, we managed to make it run on hundreds of different devices from desktop computers, to PDAs, television sets and mobile phones. My view is that the company should have proceeded with further development, but as with many other things, this was unfortunately not the case.

When it comes to drafting a completely new engine, there is a very good reason why no one has done it in the last 15 years. It is an extremely difficult and complicated process, and it takes extreme amounts of work in order to be compatible with all other standards. Opera is now used by more than 350 million users, of which about 60 million are using it on desktops, and at least half of them have their content rendered by Presto, but problems persist on certain websites — they simply do not display correctly. When you look realistically at all the facts, the construction of a new engine from the beginning was simply not something we could afford at Vivaldi.

Vivaldi Browser in use.

What are the plans for the expansion of Vivaldi? Can users expect a mobile version, in addition to the desktop one?

Jon: With Vivaldi we started at one corner; we started with a desktop version because it was a starting point from Opera. The focus is definitely both on desktop and mobile versions, which means that we will have support for multiple device types. When we reach a certain level, we will actually decide on further steps for product and community development. Our customers are our highest priority, and I openly say that we will put their needs first while working on the product.

When can we expect the first stable version of Vivaldi, both for desktop and mobile devices?

Jon: We start with weekly builds, and in time we will increase the number of features that will be available in the tests. Similarly, in a timely manner we will introduce a mobile version, but currently we do not want to set a fixed date. As was the case in Opera, we will launch the moment when we actually are ready, and not before that.

How many people have so downloaded the first technical preview of Vivaldi, and are you satisfied with the results?

Jon: We have had 500 000 downloads so far and that is a number I am very happy with. We are talking about the first Technical Preview release, so given that fact, these are significant numbers.

When we talk about functionality, we are aware that we must have a solution that will work across different platforms. Opera was one of the first browsers that supported the “web based” applications, which was revolutionary thinking at the time. Guided by such ideas, the team behind Vivaldi is trying to create an ecosystem that will provide for users demanding different experience of using the Internet, and the way they solve the daily tasks. We are the ones who have to think out of the box.

These days we see the first users, and the initial reactions to Vivaldi. Are you satisfied with the feedback, and do you plan to proceed with a more active promotion of the product among potential customers?

Jon: As I mentioned, we are starting with weekly builds that will serve as a way of unique promotion, and we will work on promotion in parallel with the development. The information we received from the first users are remarkable, and I have to admit the first numbers are extremely promising, since we have seen a huge increase in the number of downloads. We continue with our mission, and I’m grateful that I have a great team behind me for which I am confident it shares the same vision as me, they are fully committed to building quality products that users will enjoy.

For a test-drive, go to Vivaldi.com