A recent observation re Opera

[truenorth]

I happened to be perusing the OldVersions sight and came across  this article on Opera. As Opera is my preferred browser i was pleased to be forewarned about  doing the upgrade that is mentioned.Perhaps it will be helpful to other members.
http://www.oldversion.com/blog/oh-my-what-have-opera-done/
truenorth

[soybean]

Hi truenorth.  I experienced the problem of high CPU resource usage when I upgraded to Opera 12.  So, I switched Firefox for awhile.  Now that I have Opera 12.02, the latest version, Opera seems to be performing like the last 11.xx version I had before upgrading to 12.0.  In other words, Opera seems to have got the message from user complaints and resolved the problem.   

Actually, I've encountered the same phenomena with Firefox; in other words, a new release being plagued by high CPU and/or RAM usage and Firefox resolving the problem with a later release. 

Edit:
The comments in your link included comments about problems playing streaming media on websites such as youtube.  I've experienced spells of sluggish/choppy video but it has usually seemed to affect any browser I use on my Windows 7 system which is just a Pentium 4.  I've found that running CCleaner not infrequently to clean browser history really helps prevent the problem; since CCleaner will clean all browsers during its scan, it's a convenient tool to use for this. 

[patio]

The key to both browsers is to turn off auto updates and wait a week or so and check the Forums for issues...
I'm kinda against any updates being shoved on my system with any product...
But that's just me...

[soybean]

The key to both browsers is to turn off auto updates and wait a week or so and check the Forums for issues...
I'm kinda against any updates being shoved on my system with any product...
But that's just me...

I agree.  I find Firefox especially aggravating with regard to updates.  They make controlling the updates by the user way too difficult. 

[BC_Programmer]

I agree.  I find Firefox especially aggravating with regard to updates.  They make controlling the updates by the user way too difficult.

I haven't been able to even get flash working for about two months at this point. I'd say that's because of Adobe, though, not Firefox. (Though I don't have the problem with other browsers).