Opera now ad banner free [LWN.net]

From:		Berit Hanson <pr-AT-opera.com>
To:		Linux <lwn-AT-lwn.net>
Subject:		Press Release: Opera now ad banner free
Date:		Tue, 20 Sep 2005 10:33:27 +0200

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Feel Free: Opera Eliminates Ad Banner and Licensing Fee

Oslo, Norway - September 20, 2005: 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, at
http://www.opera.com.  The complete download is less than 4MB.  It is
available beginning at 9:00 AM CET.  

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

A complete list of features: http://www.opera.com/features 
Screenshots: http://www.opera.com/docs/screenshots/
Opera logos: http://www.opera.com/press/images/
Press resources: http://www.opera.com/press/  

About Opera Software
Opera Software ASA is an industry leader in the development of Web browser
technology, targeting the desktop, mobile, PDA, home media and vertical
markets. Partners include companies such as IBM, Nokia, Sony, Motorola,
Adobe, Macromedia, Symbian, 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 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.

Contact:

Opera Software

Tor Odland
Communications Director
Direct: (+47) 2416 4242
Mobile: (+47) 9909 0872
toro@opera.com

Thomas Ford
Public Relations Manager, Desktop
Direct: (+47) 2416 4205
thomas.ford@opera.com

Michelle Valdivia
Marketing Communications Director, Americas
Direct: (+1) (786) 312-1717
Mobile: (+1) (786) 208-6072
michelle@opera.com

Opera now ad banner free

Posted Sep 20, 2005 22:39 UTC (Tue) by csamuel (✭ supporter ✭, #2624) [Link] (2 responses)

I guess it begs the question, where is their funding coming from now ?
And will they go open source ?

OK, that was two questions, ENOCOFFEE.. :-)

cheers,
Chris

Opera now ad banner free

Posted Sep 21, 2005 0:03 UTC (Wed) by arcticwolf (guest, #8341) [Link]

1) Corporate support;
2) No.

Opera now ad banner free

Posted Sep 21, 2005 1:19 UTC (Wed) by rm6990 (guest, #30921) [Link]

Opera licenses their browser to mobile phone and pda vendors, and are the king in this market. This is where most of their money comes from in the first place, Opera for the desktop is just publicity for them. Mobile Opera is their cash-cow.

Opera now ad banner free

Posted Sep 20, 2005 23:07 UTC (Tue) by ordonnateur (guest, #6652) [Link]

I've used paid for versions of Operas for six or seven years on Win, Mac, and linux, it has a lot of features for web development and is the only browser as far as I know to offer a presentation mode uing CSS. Lately I've tended t use Firefox as my default, and have not bothered to upgrade, this may bring me back to Opera.
One thing to note: there is a preference setting for browser identification, by default it is set to MSIE not Opera.

Excellent! Maybe now I can persuade...

Posted Sep 21, 2005 0:03 UTC (Wed) by leonbrooks (guest, #1494) [Link]

...the PLF crew to include it in their nonfree tree, hopefully with the ID defaulted to Opera not MSIE.

I like to have a variety of browsers handy to test and demo things, to show that the system in question is robust and standard, not a rickety, narrow, specialised one-trick pony, and getting the browser PLFfed is the easiest way of accomplishing this.

Now if Opera Software will only GPL it, I can have one alongside Konqueror and the Gecko-based crew for some of my odder machines too.

Opera now ad banner free

Posted Sep 21, 2005 1:34 UTC (Wed) by bk (guest, #25617) [Link] (1 responses)

It's a nice browser, but there's no real compelling reason to use it over Firefox and a big drawback: no Firefox extensions. Greasemonkey is pretty much essential to me these days.

The page zoom feature is pretty cool (not just the text resizing of Mozilla/Firefox), letting you scale up and down the rendered page including all images and layout. But honestly I can't see myself using it regularly.

Opera now ad banner free

Posted Sep 25, 2005 13:15 UTC (Sun) by job (guest, #670) [Link]

Opera handles most Greasemonkey scripts just fine, which a quick Google search reveals.

Opera now ad banner free

Posted Sep 21, 2005 1:51 UTC (Wed) by Guhvanoh (subscriber, #4449) [Link]

Well, I've been using Opera as my primary browser for a long while now.
I got the free reg key they were giving out and I must say if felt strange
not having the text ad banners. I guess I will get used to it in time. It
will remain my joint primary browser. Konqueror is the other.