Opera Eliminates Ad Banner and Licensing Fee

Opera ^ | 20 September 2005 | Opera Press Release

[ShadowAce]

Opera Software today permanently removed the ad banner and licensing fee from its award-winning Web browser. The ad-free, full-featured Opera browser is now available for download - completely free of charge – at http://www.opera.com.

"Today we invite the entire Internet community to use Opera and experience Web browsing as it should be," said Jon S. von Tetzchner, CEO, Opera Software. "Removing the ad banner and licensing fee will encourage many new users to discover the speed, security and unmatched usability of the Opera browser."

Opera was previously available free of charge with an ad banner. Users had the option of paying a licensing fee to remove the ad banner and receive premium support.

"Opera fans around the globe made this day possible," said von Tetzchner. "As we grow our userbase, our mission and our promise remain steadfast: we will always offer the best Internet experience to our users - on any device. Today this mission gains new ground."

Availability

Download the Opera browser, available in 20 languages. The complete download is less than 4MB.

About the Opera Browser

Already regarded as the world's fastest, most secure browser, Opera speeds up your Web browsing with these innovative features:

• Navigate quickly using intuitive mouse gestures and browser tabs
• Start from where your last browsing session ended or save your entire session
• Access downloaded files quickly with the transfer manager
• Protect against identity theft and phishing with integrated security features
• Speak up: surf the Web hands-free using voice commands
• Shop Amazon, browse Ebay, and search the Web with Google right from the address bar
• Set reminders for Web pages you visit with the notes feature

Additional information

• A complete list of features
• Screenshots
• Press resources

About Opera Software ASA

Opera Software ASA is an industry leader in the development of Web browser technology, targeting the desktop, smartphone, PDA, home media and vertical markets. Partners include companies such as IBM, Nokia, Sony, Motorola, Adobe, Macromedia, Symbian, Canal+ Technologies, Sony Ericsson, Kyocera, Sharp, Motorola Metroworks, MontaVista Software, BenQ, Sendo and AMD. The Opera browser has received international recognition from users, industry experts and media for being faster, smaller and more standards-compliant than other browsers.

Opera's browser technology is cross-platform and modular, and currently available on the following operating systems: Windows, Linux, Mac OS, Symbian OS, Windows Mobile, BREW, QNX, TRON, FreeBSD, Solaris and Mediahighway.

Opera Software ASA

is headquartered in Oslo, Norway, with development centers in Linkoping and Gothenburg, Sweden. The company is listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol OPERA. Learn more about Opera at www.opera.com.

[edcoil]

Like I said, I did not like the email in Opera. I used to use Netscape and like the interface but could not upgrade to XP service pack 2 because Netscape simply stopped working.

Opera's email just seems a little more clugy then thunderbird.

I also have IE that comes with the computer so I did not see the need for three browsers.

[Minn]

If that little Ali chick on Disney channel isn't the most gorgeous female to have ever lived, she's a close second. When is she going to be 18 anyway?

[Defiant]

I have used Opera for a couple years, and like it best of all the browsers. The feature I like most is that when you start it, it will have all the same open windows that you had when last you closed it, and you can go back, just like it had never been closed. I never have to worry that I won't be able to find where I was if I close out the program and come back later.

[Defiant]

Thunderbird is a little smoother than Opera, but it is not a web browser, too. Opera's email is pretty good, with antispam features and ease of setup. I use Opera for web based email, and Thunderbird for the stuff that I want to keep permanently.

[edcoil]

Thunderbird is an email package. I use Firefox as the browser as I noted in my initial post.

[Still Thinking]

Great, I just replaced Opera with firefox. I did not like Opera e-mail utility.

That doesn't make any sense. Firefox doesn't even have email. You'll need to use Thunderbird (or whatever). So, unless you like Firefox better as a browser, and since you will now be using two separate programs for browsing and email anyway, there's no reason you couldn't just as easily use Opera for a browser and Thunderbird (or whatever) as your email client. You switched browsers because you didn't like your email client.

[RichardW]

I have been using Thunderbird for some time now. It has a few kinks but I have mainly worked them out and much prefer it to Outlook or Outlook Express. I've downloaded Opera and will give it a try. I'm not altogether happy with Firefox. I've even thought about going back to IE. Time will tell.

[theFIRMbss]

>If that little Ali chick on Disney channel isn't the most gorgeous female to have ever lived, she's a close second. When is she going to be 18 anyway?

Sorry, but even
by today's standards we must
wait some time for them:

"The freshest buzz in music this year is being created by sister singing sensations Aly & AJ (16-year-old Alyson and 14-year-old Amanda Joy Michalka), whose debut album, Into The Rush, is coming out August 16 on Hollywood Records. Yet while they may be a new face on record store shelves, they are hardly musical novices and anything but new to millions of kids across America.

"Aly and AJ have been performing together for almost a decade, not only as singers, but accomplished musicians. Both girls are quite proficient on keyboards and guitar. Citing musical influences such as Sting, Seal, Heart and John Mayer, to name but a few, Aly & A.J. have distilled the musical passion of those artists into their originals, songs that dwell on the life lessons and emotions they've already experienced.

[JoJo Gunn]

I downloaded 8.0.2 a couple of weeks back, because of their 10th anniversary "special". It's okay, I suppose. It's biggest quirk, "out of the box", is how after I'll leave the Freep after this session, I'll have to hit the Refresh button even if don't return for several hours.

[Vinnie]

I downloaded Opera and installed it.
There is quite a learning curve as there are many differences between it and Firefox.
I could not configure Mail.
Either I got a window proclaiming my user name was wrong or the password was wrong.
I double checked my documentation from Roadrunner to make sure I hadn't forgotten the correct ones. I hadn't.

So every 2-3 min. I got pop-ups. 'ERR', blah blah blah.

Got very annoyed and uninstalled it.

[joebuck]

Well, after two weeks of using Opera, I am hooked and won't go back. Although not much out of the box, it is very configurable. You need to spend a couple of hours over a couple of sessions tweaking out all the options but the time is very well spent. Once you get it set up to your liking, this is one powerful browser. Very slick integration of e-mail, irc, bookmarks and newsgroups. Very fast, but it does have some trouble with some sites - this is usually fixed with a google search specifying the problem. You will get a link to a newsgroup with someone explaining a fix. This is once when scaling that large learning curve reaps many rewards.