I had heard about Merlin last December, I think, and I had heard it handled e-mail pretty differently from Opera 8.5. So I wasn’t so sure I wanted to upgrade.
When I was reassured it would be totally painless, I upgraded. (Thanks for the reassurance, and holding my hand all the while!)
Opera++ for lots of new cool things but a special thanks for implementing in the compose mail some shortcuts I’m used to with emacs.
koalie’s contemplations in markup 