Opera Beta

Norwegian Developer Opera Software rolls out Opera versions on several channels:

Opera Developer – similar to Mozilla’s Aurora or Google’s Dev Channel (see below), Opera Developer features all the cool new stuff that Opera Software is thinking about adding to the web browser. Versions rolled out to Opera Developer are highly unstable. Only experienced testers, developers, and hardcore enthusiasts should get Opera Developer.

Opera Next – similar to Mozilla’s Aurora or Google Beta Channel, Opera Next provides a sneak preview of what the Opera desktop browser will have to offer in the future. By getting Opera Next you get to Beta test features that will potentially make it to Opera Stable. By getting Opera Next you get to Beta test the latest refinements, refinements that are not ready for the general public just yet, but will be soon.

Update September 2014: Opera Software renamed Opera Next as Opera Beta.

Opera Stable – all the cool features that were introduced by Opera Developer and tested by Opera Next are now ready for the general public and are part of the stable version of Opera.

Opera Software and Google use the same engine for their browsers (Opera Software adopted Google’s Chromium back in 2013). Google rolls out Chrome versions on four channels:
Canary Build - "bleeding edge" builds that are released as soon as they've been built and have not been tested.
Dev Channel – early releases meant for developers.
Beta Channel – Beta releases that are not yet ready for the limelight.
Stable Channel – tested releases that are ready for the general public.

As a Firefox fan, I have to bring up the fact that Mozilla rolls out Firefox versions on the following channels:
Nightly – pre-Alpha releases for testing purposes only.
Aurora – “the newest innovations in an experimental environment.”
Beta – “the latest features in a more stable environment.”
Stable – “tried, tested and used by millions around the world.”

The bottom line is this: if you want to Beta test cool new features that will soon be presented to the general public, then go get Opera Next.