Check their financial reports, desktop is 25% of their income: http://business.opera.com/company/investors/finance/
> Opera 15 is not a fork of Chrome either.
Are you thenwhat? Just on the off-chance that you're not him: What you described is exactly what a fork is. Please don't try to comment on software development until you've actually gained the experience that job entails.
Desktop is a smaller and smaller part of their income. It could disappear tomorrow, and the company would still be in great shape. It's growing all over the place. So again, claiming that Opera self-destructed is silly.
Thenwhat? Huh? A fork is taking the code in a new direction and making it differ from the original. Using the code as-is, is not a fork.
Most Opera users are on mobile, not desktop. Opera is struggling on desktop. Sites weren't working, and that was the #1 problem with the browser. Fixing that will let them grow. Opera's got nothing to lose on the desktop. They can only gain users by doing this, even if a handful of hardcore users drop them.
Most people don't need most features in Opera 12, but they're just getting started with the new Opera. Now they can create a proper foundation instead of this:
http://www.favbrowser.com/opera-the-past-the-present-the-fut...
Opera 15 is not a fork of Chrome either. It's using Chrome (Chromium) as-is, but with a new user interface on top of it.
In other words: They may alienate a small hardcore group, but fixing site compatibility will more than make up for it because other people can finally start using it.