Many are heralding Opera Unite as the future of the worldwide web. It turns your computer into your own personal web server.  That’s not it, though. It provides a rich set of applications that run on this server, allowing you and your friends to connect in ways that were much more difficult before, especially for you non-techy folks. Oh, I guess that’s the biggest selling point: all of this is available to you simply by installing the new alpha build of Opera. No fancy geek skills required. There is also an API available so that developers can build more applications for you to use. So, as long as your computer is connected to the net, you are your own social media website.

Getting Started

Just go to http://unite.opera.com and download Opera alpha build for your platform (say that five times fast). Fire it up and you’re ready to roll. You don’t actually have to make Opera your new default browser, but it will need to be running for your services to work. For more details on getting setup, check out this Opera Unite introduction.

File Sharing

Quick! You need to share a few files with someone and they are too large to email. What do you do? Some of you may know of services like Dropbox and Drop.io that can help with such a task, but that requires uploading those files into the cloud. They would be hosted on someone else’s server. Depending on what you’re sending, that may not be what you want. With Opera Unite, you can simply use the File Sharing application and share your unique link to your files. There are even privacy controls to make sure the files are only accessible to a select group.

Photo Sharing

You’ve got a directory full of photos you dumped from your digital camera and now you want to share them with your family. You may not want to upload them all to Flickr or OurDoings. Simply point the Photo Sharing application at the correct directory and it will create a fancy photo gallery for your family to browse through.

Media Player

Have you ever been away from your computer, but wished you had access to your music library? Now, all you have to do is activate the Media Player application in Opera Unite and you’ll be able to play all of your favorite tunes from any internet accessible computer. No need to duplicate your music on every computer you use. To me, this is one of the coolest apps for Opera Unite.

The Future

Many are worried about security in regards to turning your home computer into a server, but the security risks are no higher than simply connecting your computer to the internet in the first place. Others have said that this entire concept is nothing new and is just a marketing ploy by Opera to make themselves relevant again. Having run my own web, DNS, mail, IRC, Jabber, and Zope services on my own server for many years, I have to say that Opera has made it easy for the average person, which makes it something new and innovative. I would advise that you check it out and see for yourself how useful Opera Unite really is. It won’t cost you anything.