it's open source. you cannot use the code or contribute, but still you can download the source code https://vivaldi.com/source/
Umm... that's "visible source", not "open source".
I'm not sure if it needs to be open source to accomplish their goals (Opera isn't). But much of the tech crowd they're trying to reach won't use proprietary software. Come to think of it, I can't really tell what their business model is supposed to be.
However, Vivaldi is a small operation so it doesn't need many users.
Also, it's self-financed so there are no outside investors and the founder can do whatever he wants.
> much of the tech crowd they're trying to reach won't use proprietary software
You do realize that Chrome is proprietary, as are Safari and IE/Edge? No tech users at all?
Gmail is also proprietary....
Chrome is a build of the (completely open-source) Chromium browser, with some additional media codecs and a different logo slapped on it.
Also chrome integrates with service that Are closed source. Eg forsync
The main difference is that you can read the Vivaldi source code (even though it's not open source) whereas you really have no way of knowing what Google puts into its proprietary Chrome browser.
So, the techie audience that prefers open source should logically prefer Vivaldi to Chrome.