When it comes to software, bloggers sometimes forget that markets exist beyond the borders of the United States. Applications that enjoy a dominant presence on North American shores may be struggling for market share elsewhere in the world. The opposite is true, too: programs which many Americans have never heard of are extremely popular in other regions.

Take web browsers, for example. Typically, you read about market share in global terms. While that lets people know who’s leading the overall race, regional usage patterns tell a very different and equally interesting story. In Russia, Firefox retains the top spot — which is not a complete surprise since it’s the number two browser worldwide. But which browser comes in second?

With almost 28% of the market, it’s Norway’s own Opera — and interestingly enough, the browser actually owns a smaller share in Norway than it does in Russia. In the United States, in case you were wondering, Opera is used by just 0.5% of surfers.

So what is it about this browser that the Russians find so appealing? Believe it or not, there’s actually quite a bit to like about Opera.

Its performance, in terms of both page rendering and JavaScript processing, is on par with more well-known browsers like Chrome and Firefox. Opera is also one of the most customizable browsers around. In addition to the incredibly lengthy list of tweaks available on its extremely powerful (and geeky) opera:config page, Opera users can install a number of handy extensions. Like their counterparts for Google Chrome, Opera’s extensions are restart-free.

While not included by default, Opera Unite bolts itself on to the browser when first clicked and offers further customization options. Unite provides a platform for numerous add-on “apps,” which range from simple message boards to audio streaming and file sharing servers. Again, power users might not see the attraction, but Unite offers a certain simplicity which will be appreciated by the less tech-savvy.

For folks who would like to see what downloading a torrent is all about but can’t be bothered with a standalone app like uTorrent or Vuze, Opera offers built-in support for the popular P2P standard. A flexible mail app is also included, and it supports both traditional POP accounts like the ones provided by most ISPs as well as webmail accounts from providers like Gmail. And while these particular features often draw criticism from devotees of other browsers about adding bloat, the fact is that Opera takes up less hard drive space than its competition and the features are totally invisible unless a user brings them up.

Opera also offers synchronization capabilities between its desktop and mobile browsers — which can be installed on Android, iOS, BlackBerry, S60, Meego, and Windows Mobile. Recently the company even introduced a tablet-friendly version for Windows 7, and it provides a much more intuitive experience on such slates than other standard Windows web browsers.

Mobile users will also appreciate Opera Turbo, the company’s compression wizardry. With Turbo enabled, web pages can be mashed to a fraction of their original size. That data savings can mean extra money in your pocket, depending how miserly your cellular carrier is with its allowances. Turbo now makes use of Google’s WebP image format, and the change has resulted in greatly improved image quality and additional data savings.

So with all this going for it, why is it that so many users have yet to take a look at Opera? It’s a bit of a mystery, but surely if nearly a third of Russian web surfers have made it their default it just might be time for the rest of the world to take it for a test drive.

Download Opera