Opera is now free

I

Indyan

Contributor
As I had mentioned in my article 3 days ago,Opera became free from today.No more ads.As expected premium support won't be available for the free version.If you want premium support then you need to register your browser for 29$.This would entitle you to recieve premium support for 1 year.If you want you can still buy Opera from here
I think this is a smart decision as it would increase the popularity of Opera manifolds.Many people would be wondering how would Opera be able to fund itself.It is well known that Mobile market is a major source of revenue for Opera.As far as I can see there are several other sources of revenue too.Some of them are
a)The search bar.I know that Google pays Firefox for google searches made through it's search bar.I dont see any reason to belive that it is otherwise with Opera.
b) Opera is reselling slipstream.
c) You can still buy Opera for 29$ in order to get premium support.
d) I believe recently they have entered into a partnership with about.com.This may be a source of some revenue too.
e) The already have an partnership with Adobe.
Also people who have purchased Opera less than 30 days ago would probably get a refund.
Opera v8.50 has also been released.You can view the changelog here.The major changes in the browser itself are
  • Security issue in Secunia Advisory 16645 has been fixed.
  • Browser Javascript is now enabled by default
Opera is available for download here
Learn why Opera became free
http://www.opera.com

Copied from my blog
 
Thats an excellent news though i received my free opera code sm days ago :P

This mite turn out to be good competition for Firefox which is nearing its 1.5 release [See here: Firefox 1.5 Beta 1] and it will definitely eat up IE's market share much faster now.
 
This kinda sucks, I didn't want it to become free OR popular.
My 'ads free' opera was the only browser that could block each and every popup (including those rare ones that could get through firefox) and was the most secure since noone bothered to make any hacks for it.

Also there's no way they can compete against firefox with it's extensions support.
 
ah...poor non-conformist-sawmill. :P

BTW, so what was the point of giving out free reg keys? Do they get the premium support? Or was it jst to generate interest before making it free?
 
Hardly, I must be the biggest confirmist alive.

I love microsoft products even though most people bash 'em.
If it wasn't for opera's better tabs support and pop-up blocking, I would still be using internet explorer with netcaptor.

Firefox isn't for me, no interest in hunting for extensions just to add some of the basic functionality I need.

lol, I remember switching to winrar from winzip simply because it somehow got more popular and now I am using wmp10 instead of winamp for the same reason.
 
wht abt the free reg code? Is it now worthless?

@saumil

Hardly, I must be the biggest confirmist alive.

I love microsoft products even though most people bash 'em.
Click to expand...

make up ur mind dude!! :P
 
Haven't you heard? It's cool to hate microsoft nowadays aka the general idea people have of non-conformistismismism.
But 99% of them are still using windows, yes?
 
There is no use of regcodes now.But if you had recieved ur reg code for completing their affiliate program then you would continue to be eligable for premium support.

This kinda sucks, I didn't want it to become free OR popular.
My 'ads free' opera was the only browser that could block each and every popup (including those rare ones that could get through firefox) and was the most secure since noone bothered to make any hacks for it.

Also there's no way they can compete against firefox with it's extensions support.
Click to expand...
This post makes absolutely no sense.What is bad in opera becming free?
 
^

hackers mainly work on popular products. firefox was meant to be the secure browser compared to the IE staple. When that became popular...exploits were found for it as well. The same will happen to opera, no doubt.
 
Yes,but unlike FF team OPera are more security concious.If u see secunia u wud see that unlike FF and IE opera has dealt with 100% of the advisories
 
Grease Monk said:
^
hackers mainly work on popular products. firefox was meant to be the secure browser compared to the IE staple. When that became popular...exploits were found for it as well. The same will happen to opera, no doubt.
Click to expand...
Exactly what I meant, you took it way out of context.
 
Extensions for basic functionality in FF?

What are u talking about?

Without extensions, ff still has more features than IE.

And a lot of extensions become redundant as s/w developers wake up... eg. flashgot shud not be needed once developers start support for ff in their products.
 
Seems Opera say the growing threat from Firefox and now as Microsoft is releasing the new Internet explorer, things will change for the bad for Opera. It's good that now it's ad free but i am still agianst the concept of paying for a browser.

Use Firefox

whateve_r
 
Opera saw the threat Firefox and the soon to be released IE are going pose. I am glad it's now ad-free but IMO i have seen lots of sites messed up with opera. I am not in favour of paying for a browser, kinda lame.

Get firefox:hap2:

whateve_r:cool2:

P.S sorry for the double post, damn slow internet. Delete please.
 
Excuse me ,
BUT OPERA IS NO LONGER A PAID BROWSER.

Things are only going to get better for Opera.They have already witnessed 3 million downloads since the release of v8.5
Opera v9(merlin) is going to come soon with major improvements.As opera continues to innovate it is others who are trying to catch-up.

IE7 is hardly a comparison for Opera.Even Opera v7 released well over 2 yrs ago was much better than ie7.

And whateve_r why are you against the concept that people get paid for their work?
 
Well because i still don't get it why Firefox is free ? Maybe you should start a movement for the right's of programmers(Firefox) that don't get paid. Opera screwed most of the sites for me and i am not happy with it (Because of compatibility issues). With reliable free broswers around i don't want to spend money on a Browser that i feel is not worth while.

whateve_r:cool2:
 
Back
Top