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Opera Free as in Beer

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the well-isn't-that-special dept.

nekura writes "Just last month, Opera was celebrating their 10 year anniversary by giving away free registration codes; now they've trumped that by offering Opera for free. Quoth their site, 'Opera has removed the banners, found within our browser, and the licensing fee. Opera's growth, due to tremendous worldwide customer support, has made todays milestone an achievable goal. Premium support is available.' Anyone who was on the verge of switching before now has virtually no reason not to."

4 of 937 comments (clear)

  1. Sorry... by ellem · · Score: -1, Troll

    I still don't care. In 2000 Opera was really cool. In 2005? Ohh look another browser - yawn.

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    This .sig is fake but accurate.
  2. A reason not to.. by ArcRiley · · Score: -1, Troll
    > Anyone who was on the verge of switching before now have virtually no reason not to.

    Here's a reason why not to: free as in beer != freedom, and for those of us who value freedom, giftware isn't enough. Prehaps in the pre-Mozilla days Opera could have made a run with a proprietary, giftware browser..

    What's a good way of putting this.. this move is a bit too little, too late, IMHO.

    1. Re:A reason not to.. by ArcRiley · · Score: 0, Troll
      Do you know what Opera does "under the hood"? No, you don't. They may not be putting banner advertisements on your screen anymore, but they could be running any number of market analysis programs, watching what websites you visit and reporting it back to a central server, or any number of other privacy-busting behaviors.

      A majority of giftware on the market today is malware, the creators "paid" through marketing or market analysis.

      Opera should look into a similar strategy as Real Networks, adapting their business strategy with the changing paradigm of software production. If not, evolution will ensure their short lifespan. It really is that simple.

  3. Re:Free is good... by Bwerewolf · · Score: -1, Troll

    I just went to their website and they said that they weren't offering it for free anymoe. Seems like it was a limited time thing.

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    -Wolf