Opera, one of the coolest browsers out there after Firefox, has finally gone free.
With version 8.5 of the Opera browser, which was released today, the company removed banner ads from its free edition.
Previously, Opera customers had to pay, or find a pirated serial number or crack, to eliminate the ads.
This move comes to try and position Opera as a better competitor to the other browsers in the market, although I think it’s just a bit late.
They should have done this some time ago before Firefox came out and became popular, that way they would have become the browser of choice for people instead of Firefox.
I used to use Opera as my main browser before Firefox was launched, and I really liked it. The best thing about it is it’s speed, it’s even faster than Firefox.
And we must not forget that Opera led the way in browser innovation, while other browsers played catch-up.
But then Firefox came out and it had more stuff going for it, so I converted.
Anyway, this is a good move, and I’ll be checking out this new version, which also has voice capabilities and other innovative features.
The mobile version of Opera will still be a paid product.
[Via: I’ll Blog Your Mind]
[Download: Opera]