This reminds me of the recent Postgres vs. MySQL discussion in that the Postgres users/developers were so convinced of their superiority they didn't bother with all the little things like easy installs on windows and so lost to an inferior (in certain ways) foe.
I like Opera as a company but their desktop UI has always had a clunky, KDE-like feel to it. It's configurable enough that you can change it quite radically but they start with lots of stuff turned on.
Indeed, I've tried opera a few times. Usually no performance or core web-browsing improvements I can see over the stock one I use (firefox/chrome/safari, depending on platform). But there's plenty of ugly and clunky that goes with it, that quickly loses my interest.
I find it practical, personally. I've always used WinXP with the Win98 'classic' theme, and Opera with the Opera6 theme. Not particularly beautiful but very responsive and easy to navigate.
I like Opera as a company but their desktop UI has always had a clunky, KDE-like feel to it. It's configurable enough that you can change it quite radically but they start with lots of stuff turned on.