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Available for Mac, Linux and PC, Opera’s one of the relative few browsers available run on the three most widely used platforms — good for folks looking to standardize on a single client. There’s admixture of new, innovative features and some catching up with the competition in this pre-release version of this popular alternative browser.

Norway’s Opera Software has announced the release of Opera 11 alpha, the company’s latest bid for increased market share — currently at 2.39 percent — in the hyper competitive browser. Here’s what the lads and laddettes have brewed up for us this time:

• Extensions that Allow you to easily add new functionality to your Opera browser via open standards: HTML5, CSS, JavaScript and supported APIs
• Integrated plugin blocking (i.e. Flash) for on-demand content
• New mail panel gives users control over the order in which their accounts and mail items show up
• Supports HTML5 server-sent events and websockets

See also: Firefox, Chrome, Fake, CyberDuck, Thunderbird updates

Get your copy of Opera 11 alpha here (14.9MB). As of this writing, e current stable release is Opera 10.6.3.