RSSOpera: Huge Response to Free Browser
By Nate Mook | Published January 18, 2005, 2:14 PM
Just days after launching its program to provide free Web browser licenses to universities, Opera Software has characterized the response as "overwhelming" and says over 500 schools have signed up.
Although it previously offered free licenses to primary and secondary schools, high education institutions had to pay for an ad-free version of Opera. Now, the company is not only offering its browser free of charge, but will also fully customize Opera for a school's needs, including using the school colors and mascot in the interface.
Opera says top universities including Georgia Institute of Technology, Duke University and Bonn University in Germany have joined the call to move away from Microsoft's Internet Explorer, which has been plagued with a constant stream of vulnerabilities.
"We are happy to provide students everywhere with more security while surfing the Internet," said Opera Software CEO Jon S. von Tetzchner. "The response we received is overwhelming, which proved there was an obvious need in the student community that had to be met."
Jupiter Research senior analyst Joe Wilcox previously told BetaNews that Opera's new approach is a good way to get in the door. "The security hook is a smart marketing gimmick for high ed, where students might not exercise the safest surfing habits."
I used Opera before, and I personally can't stand it. The only thing that made it stand out (terribly) was the "theme". I can't stand a browser that is no better than Firefox or Mozilla that wants to charge $30 to use it. That's like paying $30 for Kazaa Plus. Paying for it does not make it a better browser (and NO, I would not want the free "ad supported" version). I have AdSubtract, so why would I accept an ad on my browser? On top of that, I would NEVER buy a "license" to use it either.
I'll just stick with good 'ol Firefox.
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|> I can't stand a browser that is no better than
> Firefox or Mozilla that wants to charge $30 to
> use it. That's like paying $30 for Kazaa Plus.
> Paying for it does not make it a better browser
Maybe you don't think it is better than FF or Moz, but apparently some do think exactly that, and they want to support Opera. So they pay.
No big deal. Use whatever you prefer, but don't patronize Opera's customers just because you happen to prefer something else.
My guess: You haven't even given Opera a fair try.
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|There is a distribution phenomenon known as "free" where many people may receive something but never use it. In fact, many people will grab something that is free before they even know what it is, because they don't want to take a chance on missing out if it turns out to be something good. Hey, if it's junk, you can just throw it away after 30 seconds.
Just ask AOL how many free disks and CDs they have given out, compared to how many subscribers they actually have. Let's wait and see how many of these Opera browsers start hitting web server logs on a regular basis.
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|That schools accepted the offer from Opera is obvious; free, no hassle, an alternative ...
What we won't know for a while is whether the students, faculty or staff is adopting Opera? Yes, they will get a copy but how many will Keep using it? Personally, i wish the number to be significant so that web authors make their pages to standards ( or mutibrowser aware).
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|I'm personally exceptionally pleased that opera has made "overwhelming" results with schools. To behonest I really don't like opera; I'm a firefox person myself, but having more browsers in the market forces people to follow web standards tighter, thus benefiting everyone; ie, less broken pages.
One must realize sooner or later that, while we have favorite browsers, you should be thankful that there 's a choice, and that makes the web better...
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|Choice is not automatically good when it comes to pay vs. free open source software. Any for-pay software that reduces the number of users of free open source software may be beneficial in some ways, by showing cool techniques that hopefully can be copied if not patented. But, it is on the whole far more harmful. If all browser users used firefox, web designers would be forced to make their pages compatible, plus that would provide lots of people who could write bug reports, or provide automatic crash reports. It would make the free open source alternative better faster if it had more users.
Among for-pay products competition is good, but when there is a free open source alternative then it is a great harm to support someone who is selling pay software. You are supporting commercial software and harming the free open source alternatives. Don't be fooled, don't do it. It costs nothing to make extra copies of software, it is wrong to deprive anyone of using your software free. If you insist on using commercial software, at least steal it so you aren't supporting the scam of people taking money for things that should be free.
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|Opera is a fantastic feature rich and stable browser. There are a lot of people working on this browser that get PAID for it. It is very WRONG to "steal" it! The fact that you call people to steal software makes your whole story very unbelievable. I myself are a very happy registered opera user. The support is very good (on the forums AND the premium support for people who bought Opera) unlike most open source software where there simply isn't any support (note: I said MOST software, not all...)
It is fact that most of the open source software just isn't as userfriendly as commercial software, because it mostly written by techies, for techies. This isn't a bad thing, but it just shows that open source is not for everyone. And saying that people should steal the software is just plain stupid.
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|It would be far better for people to use the free open source alternatives than to steal, of course, that would be overwhelmingly the best thing to do. But, stealing would be less of a harm to society than paying for software and thereby propagating the myth that software should be commercial. You, who have bought Opera, have harmed everyone the most. Commercial software will rear its ugly head as long as fools like you support it.
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|Why is Opera doing this? This might be in fact directly related with Mozilla Firefox being so popular, each user going for Mozilla Firefox is one user less for Opera, right?
I would suggest to use Open Source software, like Mozilla and Mozilla Firefox, but my opinion is biased, because I am in fact the developer of MultiZilla.mozdev.org. Still, I used Opera myself one day, but I won't look back, never.
P.s. No, I don't use Mozilla Firefox myself, I use the Mozilla Suite ;)
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|Why are they doing this? Well once students and teachers see how good Opera is when they use it at their school, they might turn around and buy a license themselves, as Opera does offer generous student discounts.
I'm not going to sit here and claim Opera is perfect, it isn't. But neither is FireFox and IE is a longshot. Opera however is my browser of choice. FireFox may be perfect for some, while Opera may be better for others.
The move by Opera however is likely nothing more than a clever marketing move.
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|I'd choose Opera over Firefox any day, but I still am satisfied with IE--though the hefty downloads to update it are a slight annoyance with dialup...
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|I Just Wanted To Say That I Ues Opera And I Have Firefox To Firefox Is Ok But I Ues Opera More To Look For Stuff On The Web =) I Love Opera
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|Why Do You Type Like This? Do You Just Like The s*** Key?
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|It's a great marketing move! Keep in mind, Opera is ALREADY free - just with ads appearing in a corner of the browser. Let's face it: Opera makes a product that NEEDS to make money, or the company dies. They are going to make it the best they can because they are accountable! Thank goodeness for Firefox and Opera, who keep innovations flowing, and make Microsoft accountable, too!
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