free opera--finally...

In what could be considered a very surprising move, and one that easily could shake the browser market, Opera has made it's award winning browser available to the masses for free, void of it's built in Advertisement Banner, giving people the choice of one of the most powerful, flexible and a very secure web browser.

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.

ff has some competition now i guess, i suggest either, jut incase people start targetting FF.
http://www.opera.com/free/

Hmm... besides looking a lot nicer, there aren't really a lot of different features in Opera that make it more useful for me. Also, it runs at a breakneck speed comprable to that of a lethargic snail, at least, it does on my computer. Wowie. Looks like I won't be weaning myself off of Firefox.

Wow.

Go Opera.

Off course, I'm one of the real users, who got it ages ago. Nah, I'm kidding. But I got the ad-free version long ago, when they ahd their 10-year aniversary.

I like opera, but I don't know too much about it. I doubt I use it as good as I could, either.

Go opera.

Yeah, i've had it for about a month now and I'm loving it. Havent used FF since. Opera just feels faster and IMO is easier to use once you have it for a while.

Just downloaded it. What does it have/do that IE doesn't?

Originally Posted by T-Nemesis

Just downloaded it. What does it have/do that IE doesn't?

Better standards support, more features, not as much susceptibility to viruses, faster, takes up less memory.

to me it feels like a FF ripoff, as in a compelete copy. I like some of the skins better Then FF, but as i can see, it is like the same thing. Load time is good. It's really a toss up between it and FF.

Originally Posted by Legend

to me it feels like a FF ripoff, as in a compelete copy. I like some of the skins better Then FF, but as i can see, it is like the same thing. Load time is good. It's really a toss up between it and FF.

except for the fact that it came out half a decade before firefox. And yes I agree it is a toss up. I am struggling with my self on this choice as well.

I've actually been a dedicated home user of Opera for quite a while now. Now that there's a free version I may start using it at work. I actually shelled out to register, too.

Speaking as an Opera fan a handful of its cool features:
- Extremely fast.
- Great standards compliance.
- Tabs (easily better than Firefox's default implementation).
- Saved sessions.
- Slick mail and newsfeed handling.
- Mouse gestures (without the need for extensions).
- "Fit to Window" mode - great for poorly designed sites.
- Voice features. It's cool having my email and favorite news sites read to me while I'm making coffee in the morning.
- Rewind and Fast Forward buttons. Amazing when browsing galleries.
- Zoom that doesn't suck.
- Slideshow mode is keen, though many may not use it.

Of course, I'm biased. At the very least it's another browser on the market. Variety is always good.

I've heard good things about Opera.

I think I may download it. I have Firefox now, but I'd also like to check out some other browsers.

FirFox is fine for me. Opera existed before firefox, but firefox has ALWAYS been free. So I stick with it.