Opera has now released the first beta version of Opera 12.00, the next major release of its popular web browser. Version 12.00 is also known by its code name Wahoo. It adds a number of new features to the browser, including 64-bit support for the Windows and Mac versions.
Opera 12.00 beta also has a number of performance and stability improvements, new support for hardware accelerated graphics chips via WebGL, redesigned security badges, right-to-left scripts support, a number of new themes such as Cookie Monster in the screenshot above, and more.
The new beta version also discontinues support for some other features, including Opera Unite and Opera Widgets, along with the browser"s legacy X+V standard and the UI voice commands.
While both Firefox and Chrome will be launching versions of their browsers that will support the Metro interface in Windows 8, Opera stated a month ago it has not yet committed to a Metro version of its browser, saying only that it was " ... currently looking into Windows 8." We recently checked back with Opera to see if their stance has changed but they replied back that they still have nothing new to report on their Windows 8 plans.
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Image via Opera