Whether or not if Opera 10.5 was rushed out to coincide with the European browser ballot in Windows 7 remains a discussion. What everybody agrees about is that an interesting comeback (with bugs). But what do you want in the next release?

Yeah, Linux and Mac users need to be patient, their Opera 10.5 release isn't ready yet, but today we'll focus on some though missing features in all of the Opera releases up till now.

Fill me in
Of course Opera renders pages (with plug-ins), but browsers are all about making the entire experience easier for you. While Chrome, Firefox and from the early beginning even Internet Explorer support automatic filling forms, Opera does not. Of course you can pre-fill information for some time now, there is no support in Opera to remember what you filled in forms, which is not part of your standard preferences.

Import everything from anyone
Another, perhaps the most vital feature missing from Opera is migration support. If you're on a ballot screen do make sure that any transition will be a breeze. Other competitive browsers, especially Chrome, support importing of bookmarks, history, and most importantly your web site passwords. Without these you are far less keen to swap, and third party tools just doesn't cut it (if they are payware).

Stability
A lot of people have complained about Opera 10.50's stability, luckily Opera 10.51 is coming pretty soon. However as a browser vendor you're also dependent on plug-in developers. Chrome was the first to introduce it's unique per-process tabs. Although some think this approach is somewhat of a killer for your system (it is probably more stressful for your memory), a partial implementation would also work. With partial I mean not a per-tab isolation, but plug-in isolation. Adobe Flash Player for instance runs in a separate process, if it crashes, the area rendered on the screen is gone, but your tab, and your web browser remains safe. Safari also includes this feature on Snow Leopard, while Internet Explorer was one of the first along Chrome to have a similar per-tab process isolation. Firefox 3.7 builds include a plug-in feature for Windows, while the other platforms will be support in the near future.

Extensions
A long and tired request for extensions has been going on since the popularity of Firefox. As Google isn't crazy, they knew from the start that Chrome with all its intention to be fast and easy needed something for the power user. Heck, even normal people use it if it's truly handy. If you want a browser that truly fits its audience, and trigger innovation, an extension supported environment is the way to go. Just look at extensions like Firebug for web developer, or how the rise of social networks (Facebook, Twitter) was directly integrated. Of course Opera has widgets support, but separate applications is something else than integration, and why work on something like that while Chrome simply creates a "shortcut" to a web page in a separate process?

Future
With Firefox in a bit of personal problem (when to release what and how), and the increasing use of Chrome, Opera has been playing catch up for the last releases. Many features have been integrated from the competition and even been improved (private tabs, Carakan, Vega). If Opera can continue to add more useful features from the competition and enhance them while being innovative at the same time, they still really make a chance. Chrome is more of a threat to Firefox and Safari, and Internet Explorer 9 may even disturb that fight. But looking as how Opera is today, it's uniqueness, while both its strength and weakness, can certainly be played out even further and better to increase its usage, and name around the web.

And while you're at it Opera Software, don't forget to patent it in the us, in case Apple turns an evil eye!