To celebrate their 10th birthday, those crazy Norwegians are giving away free licences for their Opera browser.
A licensed copy gives you advertising-free browsing, more functionality and shows you care (although if you’re getting it for free, maybe you don’t care that much…)
Hop on over to http://www.opera.com/party before tomorrow to claim yours.
My guess is that this is a sign that Opera will be going ‘free’ in the near future… With Firefox on the scene it’s lost it’s only real USP – that it was the main alternative to Microsoft Internet Explorer. It’s also the last ‘for-cost’ browser around; and as we’ve seen people don’t seem that inclined to pay for their browser (unless it comes bundled with their OS).
I still think it’s worth getting a license in case they don’t go free and besides, you never know when it might come in handy. Opera, don’t forget, make (IMHO) the best mobile browser around. That curiously is free, but it’s arguable that a mobile browser has more commercial/revenue potential than a desktop browser.
It could be that the desktop browser becomes free and the mobile browser either gets licensed to phone manufactures and mobile telcos for pre-install or available for individual download under a ‘for-pay’ licence.
Hi,
Lets hope they do go free in the near future, although to be honest I’m one of many who have switched from Opera since the release pf FireFox.
It’s not just the alternative to Microsoft angle for using them. To me both Opera & Firefox are a lot faster than I.E or netscape.
Regards
Mark
[…] As previously suggested, Opera has announced their browser will now be available as a free download: “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.” […]