Opera Turns 10, Gives Away Free Registrations

osvejda writes "Opera Software ASA is celebrating 10-year anniversary of its browser. As a surprise party favor they're giving away free registration codes (for as long as the party lasts). Also see photos from the party, listen to music by employees, play games and more."

Comments

Never had a reason to use Opera

[MSFanBoi]

IE works fine for me. No viruses, no pop-ups, and it works great for everything I need it to do.

Re:Never had a reason to use Opera

[Anonymous Coward]

Welcome to Slashdot. Replace IE with Firefox and it would be modded +5 Insightful in 10 seconds. Nevermind that for most people, IE is virusfree and pop-up free...

Re:Never had a reason to use Opera

[tont0r]

shouldnt this be modded as funny?

Re:Never had a reason to use Opera

[KDR_11k]

Yeah, now add tabs, a customizable UI (if you want that...), a MDI, an undo feature for closing tabs and a download manager that can resume. Even if you don't need it, it's nice to have.

Re:Never had a reason to use Opera

[Bronz]

Candles work great for me too, but I still like electric lights. Built-in mouse gestures, tabbed browsing, BitTorrent client, mail client, irc client, RSS reader, completely customizable interface, screen reader ... cross platform ... ability to (easily) shut off images, flash, animated gifs, cookies, doesn't take 4 minutes to clear its cache ... And its all of 3MBs.

You might not know what you are missing.

Re:Never had a reason to use Opera

[Anonymous Coward]

IE works fine for me. No viruses, no pop-ups, and it works great for everything I need it to do.

Apparently, you don't browse.

Re:Never had a reason to use Opera

[bleaknik]

I don't use IE, but did you know that the MSN toolbar now includes a tabbed interface...

That once caught me by surprise...

Re:Never had a reason to use Opera

[kayen_telva]

did you just say...that for most people, Internet Explorer is virus and pop up free ?

get out from under the bridge much ?

Easy instructions

[dividedsky319]

"For one day only, you can get an ad-free version of Opera. Simply e-mail registerme@opera.com to obtain a registration code. This offer is valid from 12 a.m. Tuesday, August 30 to 12 a.m. Wednesday, August 31 2005 (PDT)."

Re:Easy instructions

[nemexi]

Didn't work for me, took a few hours for others. This link gives you a reg code immediately.

Re:Easy instructions

[spydir31]

That's not right, just go to this page and give em an email, get code

Re:Easy instructions

[loner0208]

Another hint: keep hitting reload, and you can get unlimited reg codes.

What's the point? You only need one set, and the more you get the more you deprive others from getting a set too.

Re:Easy instructions

[Bogtha]

Now the person who runs the email.com domain is going to get swamped with emails from Opera. Good work.

Read RFC 2606. It explicitly reserves the .invalid TLD for use in situations like this.

Kudos Opera and quickie registration link

[xmas2003]

Great idea Opera - I wonder if other companies would consider doing this - i.e. get free Windows Vista registration on Bill Gates 50th birthday? BTW, here's a direct link to the Free Registration Page and I see chat, photos, and some podcasting/MP3's are available ... but no live webcam feed of their party - I'm sure that would be more exciting that the concrete cam ... ;-)

Re:Kudos Opera and quickie registration link

[Anonymous Coward]

smart companies realise this just pisses off paying customers.

Re:Kudos Opera and quickie registration link

[Iriel]

Now if Opera really wants some market share, they just need to find more things to celebrate for another 364 days with the same benefits... ;) </toungeincheek>

Re:Kudos Opera and quickie registration link

[Anonymous Coward]

No, this is a terrible idea, it makes people like me who actually paid them for the registration feel like suckers and are unlikely to give them more money in the future.

Re:Kudos Opera and quickie registration link

[Dave2 Wickham]

But people who get free keys don't have the full benefits of a paid for Opera reg. I registered Opera just to support them (though I do use it on my laptop, for memory usage), but I still have things that free key people don't - discounted upgrades, free premium support, more keys (I don't remember seeing OS/2 or Mac OS classic keys when I gave it a go, though I may be mis-remembering :P), and that warm fuzzy feeling from supporting an innovative company.

Re:Kudos Opera and quickie registration link

[erki]

Well, the reason I paid them (4 days ago actually) was to express my thanks for a kick-ass browser I've been using for years.

Registration Code

[nemexi]

Get your free registration code here.

Codes are for

[byolinux]

Windows, GNU/Linux Intel, GNU/Linux PowerPC, GNU/Linux Sparc, FreeBSD, Solaris and Macintosh.

Pretty good give away. Opera is a good third browser, after Firefox and Safari.

Re:Codes are for

[Dakisha]

After firefox and safari? :)

I use opera before I'll touch firefox. There is the odd website that prefers firefox, but its pretty rare.

This is nothing more than the usual opera fan pouring his heart out about how wonderful the interface to opera is. I cant stand the tab implimentation in firefox, it's borked!

Tabs in opera work with proper focusing. If you have 5 notepad windows open, click number 1, then 5, then close 5 - you expect number 1 to be below it. If windows were firefox then you'd be presented with number 4. Not to mention the bare minimum of shortcut keys in firefox.

what can I say - I'm an opera fan, it does what I want it to, it does it quickly, it saves me time over the course of a day. And the email client rocks once you learn how to use it. I get ~300 emails a day that need my attention, and operas system of filters and views lets me manage it all with minimal hassle.

I also have some 30,000 emails in opera and it still searches the whole lot in real time. If I had to complain, I'd only ask for one more feature.

Nested tabs. Opera has a session manager ; when you close it, you can have it load excatly where you left off. All the tabs you had open are all waiting for you when you re-open the browser.

While this does do away with the need for bookmarks - it does leave you with 20-30 tabs constantly open sometimes. If I could sort these into catagorys - my torrents/anime go into one nested set of tabs, my tech news into another - all those pages could hide in the space it takes for just one tab until I need them.

I keep meaning to send this in as a feature request.

Thats enough rambling on the joys of opera ; free key, now you've got no excuse :)

Re:Codes are for

[semifamous]

Yes, but the fact that you can add all of those features (including that "Tab Groups" feature you wanted and more) to Firefox with Extensions is what makes Firefox so great. If you want a feature, just grab the extension. I like how much Firefox can be customized.

Can I have Flashblock in Opera? How about something like the "NukeAnything" extension? Can I configure it to automatically open new tabs when I type an address in the address bar? I'm sure there's a way to do that. I just haven't found it yet. Can someone point me there? I'm going to give Opera a try since it's free, but so far, I can't figure out how to get things the way I have them in Firefox.

Re:Codes are for

[Y-Crate]

"Pretty good give away. Opera is a good third browser, after Firefox and Safari."

Let's not forget OmniWeb which is OS X-only and exists as a wonderful showcase of efficient multithreaded Cocoa programming and a damn good browser. It's not free, but after giving it a test drive I can't imagine why I wouldn't pay for it if I had the cash around to do so at the moment. I like Safari...well, actually...I love Safari, but OmniWeb makes Safari look like a broken down Land Rover on a er...nevermind. While OmniWeb is the Concorde roaring overhead.

Due to my small laptop screen, I have to say that if they added an option to display Tabs at the top of the screen (as opposed to the drawer they currently reside in), I would probably go sell crack on the street to pay for it now.

Re:Codes are for

[moo083]

Although remember that OmniWeb is based on WebKit. That is, it essentially is Safari with a different interface.

Re:Codes are for

[EvilMonkeySlayer]

As the great Elzar would say:

Bam!

Re:Codes are for

[rsheridan6]

I prefer Firefox's interface, but Opera is undeniably faster. I use Firefox for normal browsing, but for long documents like manuals, I use Opera, which can search through several hundred KB worth of html without slowing down a bit (unlike Firefox on my machinge).

Re:Codes are for

[nicomen]

Opera has a lot of nifty "extensions" by using User Javascript. That means JavaScript snippets that are appended to web pages (this in addition to being able to have JavaScript in buttons and panels)

The webpage http://userjs.org/ has a lot of them listed.

NukeExtension and Flashblock:

    http://userjs.org/scripts/general/enhancements/hid e-objects

    http://userjs.org/scripts/general/enhancements/rem ove-transparent-flash

Open new tab when typing address:

    Type this in the addressbar:

    javascript:void window.open("http://cnn.com");

    Ok, a but long, but you can add a button that pops up a requester (and open the address in a new tab) in a very simple manner.

    You can also cut'n'paste the address and when middle clicking tell opera to open that url in a new tab.

Re:Codes are for

[fbjon]

Wow, another adblock-troll, here goes the response:

There are more options than that. Notice also that none of these are required to filter anything, the function is already built into Opera. These things just make it more convenient, but you can set up your filters manually in your filter.ini-file.

It's not as convenient as the FFx-extensions though, but I see no ads in Opera now. In both browsers, once it's set up, it's set up anyway.

The interface is clunky in this one, but it's very logical and you can block anything (of course): OperaAdFilter (freeware). You can simply filter all *.swf files if you so desire, or all servers starting with "http://ad.*". Another option for open-source advocates is C++AdBlock . If you want to know how the filtering works, there is a good explanation of it. Lastly, notice that you can block IP-ranges as well.

All of these happen to be the first things in a simple Google search .

I don't know if this was a troll, but so many people say this as "the only reason they don't switch", that it's just idiotic. From now on, anyone who mentions this again, will have their geek license removed , effective immediately!

Happy Birthday Opera!

[samj]

The form was already running slowly before Slashdot arrived so if it breaks (as it no doubt will), you can get a code by mail per http://www.download.com/Opera/3000-2356_4-10421507 .html?tag=excl

Note: For one day only, you can get an ad-free version of Opera. Simply e-mail registerme@opera.com to obtain a registration code. This offer is valid from 12 a.m. Tuesday, August 30 to 12 a.m. Wednesday, August 31 2005 (PDT).

The one thing keeping me from using Opera

[PhrostyMcByte]

Zooming with the scroll wheel also zooms the images. I only want it to zoom text (like Firefox). Anyone know how to change this behavior?

Re:The one thing keeping me from using Opera

[blueskies]

That's what I love about it...who else has a real zoom? That and the lack of multiple document interfaces that all of the other browsers I've tried are lacking. Most are SDI with a tab hack.

Re:The one thing keeping me from using Opera

[KDR_11k]

You can use custom stylesheets but the zoom is meant to zoom everything (great for flash movies or something that takes up only a small part of your window). You can define a minimum font size in the options (advanced->fonts), though.

About time

[DoddyUK]

The very thing that's put me off Opera is the fact that you have to *pay* to get rid of adverts, especially considering that it's a web browser. I mean, why pay when you gan get a free alternative elsewhere? *cough* Firefox *cough* Still, happy birthday to them.

Re:About time

[frodo from middle ea]

Do ya get mad at the gas station when gas prices were higher yesterday than they were today, too?

I sure as hell would, if I filled up my tank yesterday.

Re:About time

[NanoGator]

"I mean, why pay when you gan get a free alternative elsewhere?"

Because the little Google text ads aren't very obtrusive and Opera's actually a really nice browser?

Frankly, I'm glad Opera is ad supported. You're right, $40 for a browser these days is a hard sell. However, Opera's making money, in return they're making a good product, and they've been around for 10 years. Ad support != evil evil bad bad bad.

Re:About time

[Bronz]

Because when you look at a lot of the popular browser innovations, Opera has been a fundamental cornerstone. Tabbed browsing, mouse gestures, a built-in BitTorrent client. All happily working together with a blazingly fast browser. And it's cross-platform. Firefox is a great browser... #2 in my list... but I don't mind rewarding people for innovation. Be it a coprorate entity, shareware registration or a donation to an OSS project.

Re:About time

[m50d]

I mean, why pay when you gan get a free alternative elsewhere?

Because it's better, and better by enough to be worth the money.

Re:About time

[feargal]

I'll bite. Why pay? Well, if you're one of the smelly's then obviously all software should be free.

However if you want to know why some people feel it worthwhile to pay a company for their product, then I have two reasons:

First, Opera has given me years of painless browsing on FreeBSD since back in the days when the only alternative was the hideously unstable Netscape 4. Gone were the days of "rm -f ~/.netscape/lock && netscape" and in were the days of saved sessions, mouse gestures, and tabbed browsing, not to mention blistering speed. Firefox has only been as usable for a relatively short time. Yes java was a pain, but that was as much FreeBSD related as it was Opera related.

Second, I wept tears of laughter when they released the "Bork" edition of Opera.

For either reason, I would have happily paid for it; except I don't have a credit card and so they've collected ad revenue instead.

I can understand people who switched from IE when Firefox not seeing the point. I suspect however that the number of people who switched from Opera to Firefox is much lower.

That's great

[BlackCobra43]

Except, you know, about the part where Opera contains absolutely no spyware you uniformed troll

Re:That's great

[Rinzai]

Why would a troll wear a uniform?

I guess maybe he was uninformed with regards to the troll dress code.

Re:Opera isn't free

[thc69]

I'll feed the troll...

Most of the features in question existed in Opera long before somebody made an extension for FF. In fact, there's quite a few FF extensions whose name or description refers to Opera.

My FF has 93 extensions, at least half of which are features that are standard in Opera. I won't bother to discuss startup and page load speeds.

Re:Weeeeeeee!

[LnxAddct]

I would be pissed as hell if I had paid for Opera yesterday or even within the last few months.
Regards,
Steve

Hehe

[Jugalator]

I think I'm going to join their IRC party with Chatzilla. :-)

As usual...

[MSFanBoi]

If you use Opera, FireFox or Mozilla you can do no wrong.
Use IE, and you are a troll.
Go figure.

Re:As usual...

[Anonymous Coward]

"Use IE, and you are a troll."

No, no, no. You IE and you're an idiot! Even Windows bias sites tend to agree.

Re:As usual...

[Anonymous Coward]

Typical clueless response (Troll me if you want - I know this is anti MS /.). IE works fine if you know how to protect yourself. As said so many damn times. You aren't 100% secure in FireFox, Mozilla, or whatever you use either. And never will be. Just because you do not know how to use IE right, doesn't mean that those who do, are trolls. You are a troll for being so damn bias.

Have you looked at Opera??

[the_rajah]

Really, the ads are very small and don't bother me. I did use the free registration to see what it looks like without the ads. I still don't think the ads are a big deal.

This browser has come a long way since I first tried version 2.0 on Win95. That was clunky and I uninstalled it after a couple of days and went back to Netscape. I tried it again around 5.X and liked it a lot better. I stuck with it and now use it as my main browser on multiple platforms, but I also use Firefox, Konoqueror and Mozilla as well depending on what I'm doing.

Quick

[squoozer]

I'm running out of ideas for fake names to sign up with.

Re:Weeeeeeee!

[Anonymous Coward]

i think that this is a desperate ploy by opera to get back market share

Opera ain't finished until the fat lady sings.

Re:Swim the World!

[Bluey]

He gave it his best, getting an admirable 30 feet from the dock, but it turned into an all-to-familiar case of blame the PR department when he failed.

how are they surviving

[Douglas Simmons]

Taking the existing extensions and add-ons of both browsers into account (probably a similar list), why are there diehard fans of the opera browser? Unlike IE users, those running either Firefox or Opera, Opera users especially, are aware of the existance of Firefox, so what is keeping the relatively small portion of Opera users from switching to Firefox, and what's still drawing in new users into the Opera club? You'd think Opera's not being freeware (this article notwithstanding) would keep it out of my server logs entirely, but that's not the case.

To rephrase, why ought I migrate to Opera?

Re:how are they surviving

[Nick of NSTime]

Try it out. Opera has a different user experience that some people prefer. It also uses less memory. Like I said, try it for yourself and make your own decisions.

Re:how are they surviving

[gasaraki]

Because I find Opera much more stable and reliable, much faster and just a lot easier to work with. To give a random example of something I consider really essential that Firefox does not have, where is the unified keybinding interface? Some (very few) keys you can change, sure, but at least 50% of them are hardcoded into the core files and basically impossible to edit meaningfully. To me this is just ridiculous.

Re:how are they surviving

[joelsanda]

To rephrase, why ought I migrate to Opera?

Well, perhaps I can't answer for you but I can tell for me, my switch to Opera happened before Firefox was stable enough for everyday use.

Consider this: the web browser is a tool - nothing more nothing less. Like most tools one gets what they pay for. $40 for a great tool (fast, stable, compatible, and extremely configurable) is cheap.

Opera is to Internet Explorer what the BMW is to the Chrysler K car (for those old enough to remember those!).

Re:how are they surviving

[smellystudent]

In my case, I was using it before Firefox was available and I happen to like it. I have Firefox installed, but see no reason to go searching for all the plugins and options necessary to replicate the Opera experience.

The killer features which got me hooked way back when were the MDI and gestures. Yes, I know you can do that on FF as well...

As to what attracts new users to Opera over Firefox: I don't know. Personal choice maybe? Being recommended by a friend? Trying both out and (shock! horror!) actually preferring Opera?

Re:how are they surviving

[taskforce]

Your post makes out as if Mozilla is the Be All End All of browsers and that it's the final evolution of said program. Many people prefer Opera; it's an excellent browser in my opinion and feature for feature is more useful and reliable than Mozilla. (And I use both extensively.) Obviously I can see why paying $40 (The same cost as a night of pizza and coke with friends?) might put some people off, but I still would highly reccomend people try at least the ad-free version, or just snap up a registration code for free today. (Nobody is forcing you to use it.)

Re:how are they surviving

[magetoo]

Opera users especially, are aware of the existance of Firefox, so what is keeping the relatively small portion of Opera users from switching to Firefox, and what's still drawing in new users into the Opera club?

Well, I think it might actually be the fact that Opera is good at what it does. (Gasp!)

(Why should Opera users particularly want to switch to Firefox anyway? Is there an offer of 72 virgin brides in Heaven after you die or something that makes it worthwhile?)

Seriously, I'd say it's because Opera just gets the job done. You can pimp your FF installation all you want and it will have a ton of features not present in Opera, but for 90% of what you do, all you'll ever need is already present in the base install (of Opera). And it's not a particularly large download either. Plus it really is fast.

Whether you should migrate ... well, you should at least try it for a week, then you'll know enough to decide which was the best for you. You can always switch back.

Re:how are they surviving

[slapout]

There are quiet a few reasons I use Opera. Without needing extensions, I get all the following:

• Tabbed browsing that works better than Firefox's. And I can put the tabs on the bottom where I like them.
• Settings for each window can be controled individually. I can have one site open with graphics turned off and another site open with graphics on, at the same time.
• Mouse Gestures.
• Control-D. This does a "Paste and Go". Instead of taking two steps, pasting in a url and going to it only takes one.
• Built in search bar that supports Google, Amazon, Ebay and others.
• If it crashes, I have the option of opening the same sites I was at the next time I run it.
• Can view a page in "user view". Good if a page is hard to read because of poorly choosen background colors.
• And more! -- See 30 Days to Becoming an Opera7 Lover

Re:how are they surviving

[BrianPan]

It's fast and has all the features I want. The question is "Taking the existing extensions and add-ons" into account. But finding and installing FF extensions to get to the feature set I want takes some amount of time (both initial install and keeping it up to date). And when I tried out the Deer Park beta half of my extensions broke. The Opera ads take up a small amount of real estate but, since I'm already running Privoxy, at least I don't see any of them.

Re:how are they surviving

[cocotoni]

Opera is simply the best porn browser ever.

It blocks pop-ups.
It doesn't get infected with ActiveX crap.
It notifies you of phishing attempts.
It can zoom the images.

Best of all: one handed browsing - you have a page with a lot of image links, you click the first and then just press space to go to the next link. Also works with pages where the next link is marked with Next or with >. Quite handy when you have only one hand to spare.

Re:how are they surviving

[Pete]

I find the mouse gestures on Opera are just so much better than those available (with an extension) on Firefox or Mozilla. It's like the difference between day and night.

When I tried using mouse gestures on Firefox, they worked... just. But the "feel" wasn't responsive enough for it to be worth using. On Opera (at least on Windows - I haven't used Opera much on Linux) it was incredibly responsive and the overall mouse gesture experience was really really nice.

Re:how are they surviving

[Gubbe]

I'll add a couple:

- Undo: Press ctrl-z if you accidentally close a tab you didn't want to close and it pops right back up.
- Unconditional back/fwd. Opera never refreshes a page you go back to with the 'back' function. Have the connection time out when submitting some big form? Just click back and you have the form there just like you filled it out.
- Can be used as one fullscreen window only. All links are opened as new tabs regardless of where they come from, making sure you never have to wonder what browser window it was that had that particular tab open. Also closing the last tab doesn't close Opera.
- The F12 -menu that allows changing proxy/popup/browserID/pluginblock/soundblock/etc settings without a single dialog.
- Infinitely configurable to make it feel just like you want it.

- And more! -- See 30 Days to Becoming an Opera8 Lover (seems to be up to day 21 so far)

Re:how are they surviving

[jp10558]

This is the thing, and why it's good there's choice in the market. One main reason I won't use FireFox is because it has extensions. This promotes two big issues for me -

1) Makes the devs lazy, someone else will write an extension for that "must have" feature. Well, then I as a user have to find it, install it, maintain it, and hope the extension dev doesn't get bored with keeping it working with the new versions, or I lose that feature.

2) Allows toolbars like in IE - now my install of Acrobat can put Yahoo in my Alternative browser too! The joy!

3) Mozilla and FireFox devs assume no responsibility for extensions, they can conflict and break my browser - more headaches!

Ooops, that was 3.

Anyway, it depends on what you want, and FF works for you. For me, I can use proxomitron and have adblocking for all browsers on my system. I don't lose features regularily with upgrades, nor do I have to manage my features. Less work, more working.

So from my point of view, I'm amazed so many people put up with FF. Though it is better than IE, so it makes some sense.

10 years of Opera

[brajesh]

The Opera community page also has a slide show about its history. There are some interesting snap shots featured.

Also, Opera version History for the interested.

Re:the day MS gives software away for free

[Stanistani]

I received free copies (with keys) of Windows 98, Windows 2000 at various MS promotional events.

Quicky review

[Fished]

I have to admit that I had not tried Opera in years. However, I decided to go ahead and try it again since (a) it was free and (b) I've been more or less stuck with IE because of corporate websites that require Microsoft's JVM to work.

Cutting straight to the chase, Opera DOES work with corporate websites that require Microsoft's JVM, and Firefox does not. That's the good news.

Bad news: I think the speed claims may be overblown. I also find the interface a bit klunky. More substantively, the browser would be improved by having it automatically import IE bookmarks. Unfortunately, I had to manually import the bookmarks.

Otherwise, looks pretty good.

Re:Quicky review

[jp10558]

The default interface is a topic of lots of argument - if you look at the screenshot history, many (myself included) liked the Opera 5.x era default interface (minus the ad of course).

OTOH, Opera's interface isn't difficult to customize either, I have 8.02 looking very similar to that O5 default interface.

On the my.opera.com servers (assuming they aren't melting) there are one click (or two click if you want to separate out look and function) downloads to mimic IE or FF or Safari.

You can also create your own rather simply - though menu editing is more difficult - ini edits are necessary.

Happy Birthday...

[warmgun]

We've crashed your server! Happy Birthday!

Re:Opera isn't free

[Gorath99]

Opera bloated? Powerful, sure, but bloated? I have both Opera and FF (with Flashblock being the only extension) open, with the same sites loaded and Opera uses about 20MB of ram, while FF uses over 100MB. The download was a heck of a lot smaller too.

I'll probably stick to FF, since I don't really like Opera's interface, but if bloat was an issue, I'd switch to Opera in a heartbeat.

It not really "works"...

[Hurricane78]

... it rather *languishes* away,

considering the - for modern users - nearly unusable interface
(ex: "hey, why does rocker nav open a popup menu?? what? i have to actually *move* the mouse to the button and click, *just to go *back*???" "where are the tabs??" "where is the adblocker??"),

the tons of bugs
(ask a real web developer. i'm pretty sure he answers you that he wants to strangle everyone still forcing him to support this load of misdocumented inconsistent unreliable crap that IE calls an API ;),

and the chances that it ever gets really *good*...
(depending of M$ being *good* from your POV)

I guess if I were an american i'd sue you for compensation for the pain and suffering you helped to do to me. ;P

P.S.: I got in fact fired because in some special cases of inconsistency a (nearly) unpatched IE 6 destroys the whole site by making it unusable (and ugly). It seemed that the press and marketing chimps from many important companies did not have the patch, but in our company everyone had it. So I never saw a problem, released it, and *bam*: We were "blamed" that much at out target group that my big boss fired me.
(Okay, you could also say that i should rather hate those chimps. In fact i hate IE *and* them. ;)

Re:It not really "works"...

[MSFanBoi]

Some of us are actually using IE 7.0 Beta1...

As for having to move the mouse just to go back, I have a multibutton mouse, didnt even have to set it up to use the thumb button as the "Back" function.

Are you telling me Opera, Mozilla and Firefox don't have a tonne of bugs? I work of plenty of Web App devs who know all too well that there a bugs, lots of bugs, both big and small in all of the above, including IE.

And who's fault is it for not patching?

Happy B-Day Opera! + Another Way To Get Opera Free

[d3bruts1d]

I've been using Opera for probably 4 years now, and couldn't be happier. IMO, Opera has been (and still is) well worth the price. Obviously I'm not alone as many other people also purchase Opera. :P

Though, for those of you who run websites, blogs, or whatever there is another way for you to get Opera for free. And that is simply by sending 250 referrals to Opera. So if you miss out on the birthday party, you want to look into that.

I look forward to Opera's 20th birthday and beyond!

Re:Opera isn't free

[MarkGriz]

"My FF has 93 extensions, at least half of which are features that are standard in Opera."

Exactly why I don't use Opera... too bloated, but to each their own

Exactly why I don't use Firefox. It tried, really. But endlessly searching for extensions (and deleting the ones that sucked, lather, rinse, repeat) to give me the functionality I was used to was just too much hassle.

For example, Opera automatically tracks your browsing session so if your computer crashes (yes I run Windows) or you close Opera, it automatically restores your session when you restart Opera. Since I typically have about 10 browser tabs open at any time, this was a must have feature for me. I tried to get similar functionality from Firefox plugins. At the time (last year) I only found a few, and they either had lousy functionality or were extremely slow.

Maybe things have improved but I really don't care. Opera works for me and I see no compelling reason to switch, especially with a free reg code (not that the ads bothered me to begin with)

Re:the day MS gives software away for free

[thetejon]

So, in the end, Microsoft does give away free licenses, but makes money off it anyways...

Isn't that the whole point of free giveaways? To generate more sales?

As much as people (myself included) may hate Microsoft, some of the things they do are just good business.

Opera did not use Cydoor code

[:jax:]

Opera never used Cydoor or anyone else's software for the ad banner, and wasn't spyware with version 5 either. We spent a lot of effort to make sure of that. The entire architecture was our own. Cydoor was just an ad provider.

Jonny Axelsson, Opera Software

Second half of the party chat

[Jugalator]

OK, here's what I believe is about the second half of the party chat on IRC:

ROBOd asks: how you like the "all-new, brand-new and polished" Internet Explorer 7?
Haakon: They have made some improvements in the UI, it took them 4 years or so. I was very disappointed that they didn't fix any rendering bugs. They have promised some fixes, but will not support Acid2 fully. That's a mistake.

ROBOd asks: can you express your feelings about William Henry Gates the 3rd?
Haakon: I've never met him. I had lunch with one of his men, Ballmer, though. I believe they are hardworking successful man that, unfortunately, not have accepted the responsiilities that comes with their size and power.

Jazmo__ asks: So what is typical workday for you? Do you code or is it more like sending mails and speaking on phone?
Haakon: I don't read or write Opera source code. I code in HTML, CSS and other web languages, but email takes most of my days. Sometimes meetings, although I try to cut back. Phone confereces are also common. I like lounging on a couch, bean bag or bed while working....
Haakon: Where I'm most productive though, is in the shower. It'a great place for thinking.
Haakon: I shower a lot.

PowerUser asks: You all use emacs I assume?
Haakon: Absolutely, I've been using gnu-emacs since 1987 and have found no reason to quit.

eps asks: working in a company that actively tests compatibility of our software with firefox and opera (most of our programs are webbased now, activex/java/js horrid mixtures) and is interested in linux, what efforts are you making to support (I hate the idea too, but it would be handy for bussiness) activex webbased apps under windows (and possibly linux as we are moving to FOSS in as many areas as possible)
Haakon: Active-X is a security threat and a windows-only solution. I don't think it would do us much good to support it, although I have sympathy with your position.

Jakub81 asks: Did you (or: will you) implement support for CSS3 selectors in the new (Opera 9?) core?
Haakon: I should know the answer to that one, I'm afraid the deatails are slipping me at the moment. CSS3 Selectors is one of the most mature CSS3 modules and I think we should support it.

ROBOd asks: Will Opera ever have something like iCab browser which shows a crying smiley face when a page contains invalid code? That would let users know about which sites are better and would also give the devs an impulse to follow the standards.
Haakon: Actually, I implemented that feature in the Arena browser (now historical) in 1994. I think it's great and have been suggesting it internally. However, there are thousands of good ideas, but only that many developers....

Danimal82 asks: I am wondering, what do you think the world would be like without microsoft?
Haakon: a better place, I believe. Although windows, word, powerpoint and other applications have made computers easier to use for many, I consider the PC -- as MS developed it in the 80/90s to be a dead end. Only the internet saved it, and we didn't need MS for that.

Moderator: (To answer some questions about women at Opera: yes, we have women at Opera. Yes, some are coding ;))

RedPing asks: freedom of choice in the mainline. Is that round now in the level of smart devices (smartphones, tablet pcs, handhelds, and so on)? Is this the new battlefield?
Haakon: Yes, I think so
Haakon: MS won the desktop, but the mobile market is much more open. I hope we can build it on standards -- so that we don't battle unnecessarily.

Joshtek asks: What do you feel is special about software development?
Haakon: It's so easy to get started -- all you need is a computer. In other areas -- math, physics, music -- you often need years of training to make a difference.
Haakon: This is also why I'm against software patents -- it's so easy to have good ideas in this field.

keny asks: What do you think of firefo

Re:Oh gee. Free registration codes.

[dumeinst]

I've used all three mainline windows browsers. IE, Firefox, Opera. IE is, for me, unusable. No tabs, slow, dull. It's a relic. And this from the 'leading' software company in the world.

I've been using firefox for a good while now and I love it. It's everything you want and need plus inifinite customability.

Having said that. I've used opera before but didn't like the ads and wasn't about to pay for features I could get for free. I downloaded it today and the speed of it puts firefox to SHAME.

I'll probably continue using firefox but I can definitely see why people love this browser. Anyways. I'm just ranting. I'm sure no one gives a shit :)

Its still no good

[chrisjwray]

I used to like opera before I found firefox and dropped it because I couldnt use it for my online banking whereas firefox works fine and doesnt crash all the time. Just took up their free offer, installed it and ..... it still doesnt work.

Perhaps in a later release guys. Nice gesture though.

PS, if anybody can use opera with HSBC UK online banking then let me know how.

Oprah?

[hotwatermusic]

You get a browser! You get a browser! You get a browser!

Re:Weeeeeeee!

[JonnyCalcutta]

You should teach them a lesson by boycoting their free registration.

Re:the day MS gives software away for free

[monkeydo]

How is that different than Opera giving away free keys so that more people will use their browser?

Guilt

[adolfojp]

I preach Opera like a Jehovah's Witness preaches... well... Jehovah.

It is like firefox, with most of the extensions installed, without hoarding your memory, and completelly integrated. Oh, It also reads your mail. It is a 4MB download.

Opera spoiled me because now I cannot use any browser that doesn't use Sessions. Its usability is superb, nothing comes close. Every single detail has been polished.

I have always used the ads to support Opera. Specially since the ad sense ads that occupy the same screen real estate as a toolbar. Getting a free version makes me feel rather guilty actually.If only Microsoft made me feel that way :-)

Adolfo

Useful sites for all the new Opera users

[Taladar]

When you finished /.ing opera.com or still need reasons why to use Opera you might want to have a look at the following sites:

Opera Wiki
Opera Userjavascripts at userjs.org
30 Days to becoming an Opera8 Lover

Re:Useful sites for all the new Opera users

[d3bruts1d]

Don't forget Opera-Watch... :P It's probably the best site as far as insider info and news about the Opera Browser.

Still No NTLM Support

[ThatDamnMurphyGuy]

Unfortunately for me and others, Opera still lacks one critical thing: NTLM authentication to MS Proxy/ISA servers. Firefox works. IE works. Yet Opera still manages to write of NTLM compatbility just because 'it's an ensecure protocol from MS'.

I merrily downloaded and registered my free version only to find out it's absolutely worthless at work not only for web access, but the access developmental pages/servers that do ntlm/windows integrated security.

I'll stick with Firefox thanks.

Re:Still No NTLM Support

[plenTpak]

I had to use Firefox for a while for the same reason, but I found out that my work proxy is configured to use MS Proxy Client. You might be able to get it working to by going to the mspclnt share dir on your work's proxy server. (In Windows Explorer: \\proxyservername\mspclnt )

This allows most of your applications to connect to the internet without needing to manually set each of their proxy settings.

Alternative Browser

[bunratty]

It's nice to have another browser to use when a website you want to visit doesn't work in your browser of choice. Many sites that don't work in Mozilla do work in Opera, and vice versa.

*Thinks back to the 1.44mb days*

[CCelebornn]

I used to LOVE Opera. Was back when I was using Windows 95 I think; after installing IE4 (thus active desktop), the whole operating system became awefully unstable, but especially when using IE itself.

I'd tried Netscape Navigator; but I never liked that... was slow, displayed things poorly and so just sat on my computer. It was a computer magazine actually that showed me Opera; with its claim of its install being able to fit on a single floppy! Wow, how did they manage that!

So installed it, and loved it. On my paltry 32 megs of RAM, on an unstable Windows 95; Opera was fast, stable, and displayed websites how I liked them. Perfect! But then I got more memory, Windows 98 came out and was more stable; Opera started becoming bloated for my likeing (so many features I would never ever use yet sit there taking up UI space) and so I went back to IE. Netscape at this stage? A joke.

And now of course I'm on Firefox; fast, customisable and easy to use, even managed to get my ex to use it. Its not without its faults, but its the best there is for now. One thing though; this free registration offer will have done what its set out to do; I will definitely give Opera another try

Re:Roboform

[jp10558]

Actually, I'd love to see such a feature added to Opera.

I'm really not sure why Roboform can't work with Opera - on the Opera forums, it seems to be a case of Roboform claiming Opera doesn't let them do X which is needed to make it work, and Opera claiming the same thing to Roboform.

Drop it in the wishlists of both companies, maybe with enough outcry it will get fixed.

IE, Media Player were free and everyone bitched

[billstewart]

When Microsoft charges money for software or features, everybody bitches because they're a greedy monopoly. But when MS includes features for free, everybody bitches and sues them, because they're evil greedy monopolists trying to undercut their competition.

The Eurocrats recently forced them to release a version with no media player on it, which everybody viewed as silly and ignored. But earlier, when they gave away IE for free, Netscape got the Feds to investigate them, because MS was greedily interfering with Netscape's business model of giving away browsers for free...

Re:IE, Media Player were free and everyone bitched

[delus10n0]

This never made sense to me-- Apple is doing the same thing, yet it's ok? I mean, iTunes, Garage Band, iPhoto, iMovie, etc..

People who purchase Windows expect certain features in a modern OS, such as web browsing, video editing, photo manipulation, multimedia playback, etc.-- why is it wrong for Microsoft to include these features in an OS _they_ made and sold?

Re:IE, Media Player were free and everyone bitched

[spisska]

People who purchase Windows expect certain features in a modern OS, such as web browsing, video editing, photo manipulation, multimedia playback, etc.-- why is it wrong for Microsoft to include these features in an OS _they_ made and sold?

First off, MS is a convicted monopolist; Apple is not. This means that Apple has a whole lot more flexibility in what software they can bundle -- since Apple doesn't own 19 of 20 desktops, nobody can claim that shipping OS X with iMovie is blocking out competitors (particularly since pro-quality video editing suites sell rather well on the Mac platform).

It isn't illegal to be a monopoly per se. If everyone in the market decides your product is the best, then more power to you. What is most certainly illegal, however, is using a dominant position in one market (such as, oh say operating systems) to leverage a dominant position in other markets (like, oh say media players and web browsers). Laws on this matter are clear, and MS has had more than a fair trial in both the US and EU and was convicted each time. Unfortunately, the punishment in the US amounted to MS being sent to bed without supper for a night a few years ago.

See, Microsoft isn't bothered with creating a superior media player or browser. They'd rather just subvert existing standards to run only on their software (eg (among many) .asf, .wmv, dhtml, etc, etc). This isn't illegal because MS makes the OS and WMP, but because MS uses their OS dominance to ensure that everyone uses WMP instead of any other media app, and that providers create content that is compatible with (and only with) WMP. It didn't work with html, and it's not going to work with media, but that doesn't mean that they won't try.

Second, of the things you mention, only web browsing and media playback come bundled with MS Windows. There is no included video editing and no included photo manipulation -- at least nothing capable of doing anything serious.

Anyone buying MS Windows and expecting to be able to edit photos and home videos out of the box is going to be sorely dissapointed. The fact that these come standard with other operating systems only proves the point that people who "expect certain features in a modern OS" would be better off with a truly modern OS like OS X or GNU/Linux

Slashdot first?

[minus_273]

I've seen a lot of things on slashdot, but is this the first time a link to free serials has been posted on the front page?

Opera Inc is actually a good company!

[mritunjai]

Opera inc are actually a nice bunch of folks:

1. Unobstrusive ads (google text ads), commercial != bad, google makes money from ads and your pizza ain't free.

2. These people are pioneers of key browser features. Tabbed browsing, standards support, integrated mail/news/RSS/IRC/BT client, mail labels (what Gmail did later), etc etc

3. Opera folks are in staunch opposition to software patents. Inspite of fact that they did all those features waaay before anybody else, they haven't patented anything. Their CEO said in an statement that Opera is opposed to the concept of software patents.

Folks, the product is worth the money. They are good people(TM) and that is reason enough these days to support them.

Re:Nested tabs, already in Opera

[fbjon]

..Thus it is essentially nested windowing systems, smart! Save a session, and when you open it, it goes into a new window by default.

Re:the day MS gives software away for free

[satanami69]

Maybe they don't like you.