We at Opera Software do not monitor what users do and we do not provide information about what users do. We have chosen to let use an external ad-broker to sell ads. Which ads that that they have seen and clicked. We do not ask for upfront profiling information before download of the browser. Opera has, time and again, proved itself faster than the competition for home users.
Opera is significantly faster on computers with lower modem speeds and weaker system resources.
But these are also the kinds of machines that many home users are equipped with today. Active-X is not a standard and will only work on Microsoft Windows. Opera Software takes pride in offering Opera on multiple operating systems. Active-X is also the source of a lot of security problems in Internet Explorer. Active-X allows you to do, as that is a more secure solution and a standard as well.