Opera nixes banner ads in free version

The latest free version of Opera Software's namesake browser will be available without an advertising banner.

With version 8.5 of the Opera browser, which was released Tuesday, the company said that it has removed banner ads from its free edition. Until now, Opera customers had the option of paying to eliminate the ads and receive premium support.

With the licensing change, Opera hopes to accelerate uptake of its browser, the company said.

"Removing the ad banner and licensing fee will encourage many new users to discover the speed, security and unmatched usability of the Opera browser," Jon von Tetzchner, CEO of Opera Software, said in a statement.

Premium support via e-mail is still available from the company for $29 per year.

Version 8.5 also addresses some security vulnerabilities and includes a feature called Browser JavaScript, which automatically fixes out-of-date browser scripts.

[pentium4forever]

Good move Opera

Very good move Opera. You will see more happy users and more people downloading the browser now. You might think a banner ad isn't that bad but the one that was displayed took up a large space of real estate!

[Christopher Hall]

Good? You kidding?

It's fantastic!

Everything I've read about the browser has sung nothing but praises for its execution. I can see this really taking off. Heck, I'm an IE guy and I'm considering giving it a shot.

[pentium4forever]

Good move Opera

Very good move Opera. You will see more happy users and more people downloading the browser now. You might think a banner ad isn't that bad but the one that was displayed took up a large space of real estate!

[Christopher Hall]

Good? You kidding?

It's fantastic!

Everything I've read about the browser has sung nothing but praises for its execution. I can see this really taking off. Heck, I'm an IE guy and I'm considering giving it a shot.

That is really great!

Being an Opera user since its version 6, I feel this is really great. I have always prefered Opera to IE for its speed and security.

[ballssalty]

This is really stupid.

Okay, you charge for the browser to remove banner ads and provide premium support. Now you are removing banner ads altogether and only charging for email support at $29 a year. Well I don't know about you, but who would want to pay $29 for email support? If there is a problem with the browser that makes it unworkable then people will just move back to the free IE or free Firefox or free Netscape. No one is going to pay just for email support. There has to be something else for that fee.

They are cutting off their biggest revenue stream. I certainly hope they're getting somewhere with their mobile browser in terms of licensing fees because they just cut off the hand that fed them.

That is really great!

Being an Opera user since its version 6, I feel this is really great. I have always prefered Opera to IE for its speed and security.

[ballssalty]

This is really stupid.

Okay, you charge for the browser to remove banner ads and provide premium support. Now you are removing banner ads altogether and only charging for email support at $29 a year. Well I don't know about you, but who would want to pay $29 for email support? If there is a problem with the browser that makes it unworkable then people will just move back to the free IE or free Firefox or free Netscape. No one is going to pay just for email support. There has to be something else for that fee.

They are cutting off their biggest revenue stream. I certainly hope they're getting somewhere with their mobile browser in terms of licensing fees because they just cut off the hand that fed them.

[dabruro]

fewer security holes than Firefox or IE!

Finally a free (as in beer anyway) browser that's *consistently* safer than IE, not just *arguably* safer like the mozilla/gecko-based browsers. I think the only other safe alternatives are khtml-based browsers like konqueror or safari, and these aren't available on Windows. (Well maybe there's KDE under cygwin or something, but let's get real.)

[dabruro]

fewer security holes than Firefox or IE!

Finally a free (as in beer anyway) browser that's *consistently* safer than IE, not just *arguably* safer like the mozilla/gecko-based browsers. I think the only other safe alternatives are khtml-based browsers like konqueror or safari, and these aren't available on Windows. (Well maybe there's KDE under cygwin or something, but let's get real.)