| Opera goes free... drops ad, license fee |
Sep. 20, 2005
 Opera Software Tuesday took the bold step of permanently dropping the ad banner and licensing fee from its Web browser. Opera was previously available free of charge with an ad banner, but 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 Jon S. von Tetzchner, CEO of Oslo-based Opera Software. "As we grow our user base, 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."
Opera will now rely on other revenue streams and selling premium support for most of its corporate income.
How long has this been in the works?
 "We moved to do this immediately once the proper revenue streams could be secured," Opera desktop spokesman Thomas Ford told DesktopLinux.com. "We have strong revenue streams for our embedded and mobile browsers. We will also create revenues from search, like other commercial browsers." In particular, Opera's mobile browser has been selected by Motorola for use in its Linux-based mobile phones, such as the 780 (pictured here).
Mozilla Inc.'s open source Firefox browser has made strong inroads against Microsoft's Internet Explorer in recent months, resulting in Redmond's browser falling below 90 percent US marketshare (and below 70 percent in Germany) earlier this year. In May, WebSideStory listed browser marketshares for the US, Germany, and Japan, as follows:
| Browser | US | Germany | Japan | | Internet Explorer | 88.86% | 69.45% | 93.92% | | Firefox | 6.75% | 22.58% | 2.79% | Non-firefox
Mozilla/Netscape | 2.23% | 3.77% | 1.26% | Other
(includes Opera) | 2.06% | 4.12% | 1.94% | | Source: WebSideStory, May 2005 |
WebSideStory began breaking out Firefox marketshare individually starting in February of this year.
Ford said the company's main objective is to "substantially increase our market share. This will help Opera have a greater impact on the future of Web innovation. We also want to give users a choice. Because of today's move, more people can experience a safer, faster Internet. We did not want the presence of ad banners or licensing fees to hinder that.
Ford said that this move shouldn't be viewed as a challenge to other internet companies. "This is really about choice. More choice allows people to select the best browser for their needs. It also gives them an alternative to OS-bundled browsers," Ford said.
Key Features
Opera lists the following key features for its Opera Web browser:- 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
- 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 more detailed list of features can be found here.
Opera's premium support costs $29 per year and is supplied via email in English for Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X systems. Under the premium support arrangement, Opera's support representatives are available to help with installation and/or upgrade, migration from another browser, configuration and customization, and in resolving other support issues. Response time is approximately 24 hours (regular business days, excluding weekends and Norwegian public holidays), the company said.
Free support resources are also available online.
Availability
The ad-free Opera browser, offered in 20 languages, is now available for free download here. The complete download is less than 4 MB.
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