Opera’s Anniversary Party

Published September 5th, 2005 7:34 PM EDT By Daniel Goldman

Unless you have been hiding in a cave over the last week, you must have heard of the party Opera threw in occasion of its 10th anniversary.

I, of course, was on vacation over the last week, but I did manage to sneak into the party for a few minutes — I couldn’t resist.

I also managed to submit a few questions during a chat with Opera’s founder and CEO Jon von Tetzchner, though he didn’t answer any of them.

In addition to the chat with Opera’s CEO, there were also chat sessions with Hakon Wium Lie, Opera’s CTO and father of CSS, as well as with one of the browser developers.

Opera also gave out free registration codes for the desktop browser during the party.

In the 24 hours of the party more than three million people got their free registration codes and over half a million people downloaded Opera from Opera’s servers, which is a new all-time high. Opera’s party partner download.com had a significantly higher download number.

So I wasn’t entirely wrong when I suggested over a week ago that the Opera browser may go ad-free.

In addition, during the party, Opera received close to 300 creative birthday greetings; Opera will post their 100 favorites soon.

Tens of thousands of people downloaded Opera’s employees’ music files and the party videos.

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Opera Watch, an Opera browser blog, is run by Daniel Goldman, who used to work for Opera Software as a Technical Evangelist.

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Note: I encourage you to copy and translate my blog posts to your non-English blog. Do you have an Opera blog (with more than 90% of the content Opera-related)? Let me know and I'll add it to the list above.

About Opera

Q: What is Opera?
A: Opera is one of the most powerful Web browsers around. A Web browser is the program that allows you to view Web pages. Opera is well known for innovation for PC browsers and bringing the full web to mobile phones and devices.

Q: Is Opera free?
A: Absolutely free.

Q: Why should I download a browser? Doesn't my computer already come with one for free?
A: It's about getting more out of the time you spend on the internet. Opera is designed to be much faster than these browsers and gives you powerful features that the default browser lacks. Default browsers like Internet Explorer are also more likely to be subjected to dangerous software such as viruses and spyware.

Q: Will Opera keep me safe from fraudulent websites and malicious hackers?
A: According to Secunia, a respected firm that tracks security in browsers, Opera has the best reputation and track record when it comes to browser security. Keeping our users safe from security vulnerabilities, fraudulent websites, and malicious hackers is a top priority for Opera. Opera is maintained by hundreds of engineers, developers and security experts who are constantly looking to make the browser even safer.

Q: Doesn't Opera copy all of their features from other browsers?
A: Absolutely not. In fact, many of the features that are popular in other browsers today were invented and pioneered by Opera a long time ago. Opera invented the precursor to tabs (in 1994), Page Zoom (1994), was the first browser to block pop-up ads (2000), first to add a Search field in the browser toolbar (2000), Sessions (1996), deleting private data (2000), Mouse Gestures (2000), User JavaScript (2005), BitTorrent support (2005), Widgets (2006), Speed Dial (2007), and much more.

Q: Does Opera support extensions, such as those found in Firefox?
A: Much of the functionality provided through Firefox extensions is already built directly into Opera, so you don't have to download additional extensions in Opera. In addition, Opera is highly customizable and supports all standard plug-ins.

Q: Can I also use Opera on my mobile phone?
A: Yes. And your Nintendo Wii, Nintendo DS or almost any connected device and mobile phones. Opera Mobile oftens comes preinstalled from the manufacturers, but if it doesn't you can install Opera Mini which runs on nearly all phones.

Q: This all sounds great, so how do I download Opera?
A: -- Opera on your computer
-- Opera Mini on your phone
-- Opera Mobile on your phone
-- or learn more about Opera at www.opera.com