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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."
"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)."
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 ... ;-)
Hulk SMASH Celiac Disease
Get your free registration code here.
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.
Join the Free Software Foundation
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?
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.
Procrastination -- because good things come to those who wait.
I would be pissed as hell if I had paid for Opera yesterday or even within the last few months.
Regards,
Steve
I guess maybe he was uninformed with regards to the troll dress code.
If you use Opera, FireFox or Mozilla you can do no wrong.
Use IE, and you are a troll.
Go figure.
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.
I'm running out of ideas for fake names to sign up with.
I used to have a better sig but it broke.
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.
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.
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.
95% of all sigs are made up.
I received free copies (with keys) of Windows 98, Windows 2000 at various MS promotional events.
You can't talk about Wikipedia's flaws on Wikipedia
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.
"He who would learn astronomy, and other recondite arts, let him go elsewhere. " -- John Calvin, commenting on Genesis 1
"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.
"Derp de derp."
We've crashed your server! Happy Birthday!
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.
Because it's better, and better by enough to be worth the money.
I am trolling
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.
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?
Predictive text is shiv!
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.)
My 3D Texturing Skinning work (under construction)
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!
(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.
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
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
Beware: In C++, your friends can see your privates!
There are quiet a few reasons I use Opera. Without needing extensions, I get all the following:
Coder's Stone: The programming language quick ref for iPad
You get a browser! You get a browser! You get a browser!
You should teach them a lesson by boycoting their free registration.
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.
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.
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
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
Linux is not Windows
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.
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
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.
- mritunjai
Maybe they don't like you.
I really hate Dan Patrick.
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