Comments on: Flash: Opera Goes Ad-Free

By: Kelson

Kelson — Thu, 22 Sep 2005 16:15:00 +0000

If Opera ever wants to increase its marketshare, it must stop identifying itself as Internet Explorer as default.

What does that have to do with marketshare?

It’ll affect numbers on poorly-implemented stats packages, but it’s not going to impact the number of people who actually use it. The regular user doesn’t know (or care) what Opera is identifying itself as.

By: minghong

minghong — Thu, 22 Sep 2005 01:22:00 +0000

> If Opera ever wants to increase its marketshare, it must stop identifying itself as Internet Explorer as default.

True. Regular users don’t change preference. Opera needs to give the best default settings for them.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 21 Sep 2005 21:20:00 +0000

If Opera ever wants to increase its marketshare, it must stop identifying itself as Internet Explorer as default .

By: David Naylor

David Naylor — Wed, 21 Sep 2005 06:45:00 +0000

Time for you Opera fans to get a-spreaddin’! You have some catching up to do

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 20 Sep 2005 19:23:00 +0000

Kelson: I came back to counter what I had written about not supporting the desktop browser. I did some more reading around on the net and yes you are right, they do have other revenue streams. I really wish it works, though I remember when Netscape went free it made sense back then and it looked like they could still make money. But I think Opera is on better ground. So time to say:

Yippiieeeeeeeee!!
Opera is free

Waiting for Merlin

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 20 Sep 2005 19:23:00 +0000

Opera will definitely continue with the desktop browser, and the plan is actually to make even more money:

http://my.opera.com/haavard/blog/show.dml/22892

By: Kelson

Kelson — Tue, 20 Sep 2005 18:08:00 +0000

Anonymous: re-read the post, and especially the follow-up interview with Opera’s CEO. They are still getting revenue from the desktop browser, and actually expect to get more than they did before — it’s just not coming directly from the end user.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 20 Sep 2005 16:15:00 +0000

I don’t see this as good news. I am afraid this means Opera will abandon the desktop platform. Since they do not have any revenue coming from the desktop market why will they be interested in improving the browser? I am sure the company had reasons for what it did and maybe it makes sense for Opera.

By: Kelson

Kelson — Tue, 20 Sep 2005 16:14:00 +0000

Wow, I didn't expect that this soon. Things are about to get really interesting in browser competition! I looked up the change log, and it looks like this is the only big change from 8.02 to 8.5. It's mainly bug fixes, and enabling Browser JavaScript by default.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 20 Sep 2005 15:20:00 +0000

If they know what they’re doing this is can increase Operas market share tremendously.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 20 Sep 2005 15:18:00 +0000

Users who have already paid will continue to receive Premium support.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 20 Sep 2005 15:00:00 +0000

Perhaps they could offer paid users a chance to receive Premium support?

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 20 Sep 2005 14:37:00 +0000

People who recently bought Opera can get a full refund, no questions asked.

By: minghong

minghong — Tue, 20 Sep 2005 14:24:00 +0000

Is it unfair to Opera users who actually registered? (read: pay).

By: Pallab

Pallab — Tue, 20 Sep 2005 13:17:00 +0000

Wow man.That is so nice of Opera to give you an oppertunity to speak to the CEO.