Free Opera (or how to abandon desktops while taking over the world)

The relatively unknown (to the general public) web browser known as Opera is now free! From humble beginnings in 1996 with a public debut as a small Norwegian browser to 2005 and membership of a very exclusive club - browsers that cost money - Opera has had a good innings.


Who cares?
Opera is mostly known for the oft-repeated claim of being "the fastest browser on earth" (which incidentally is probably true). However despite impressive performance Opera never really caught on (cost probably had something to do with that), and it now seems likely that the advent of Firefox has sounded Opera's death knell as a worth-paying-for alternative to the mighty Internet Explorer. Opera users today are a shrinking mixture of diehard loyalists from the glory days, web designers testing for compatibility, and power surfers willing to pay for Opera's much touted speed and impressive, if sometimes exotic, features.

So how is Opera Software going to survive?
Their website doesn't suggest many possibilities, but presumably Opera Software will make a few bucks from paid support for the now-free browser, however it doesn't take a genius to see that, even charging for it, they cannot continue supporting a declining browser forever. Despite that it's not all doom and gloom - surely Opera for Mobiles (smartphones and PDAs) must form a major part of Opera Software's future. After all, Opera for Mobiles has no serious competition and the mobile market can't do anything but grow. Opera Mini, released for non-smartphones (stupidphones?) in 2004, is still in its infancy but is another clear sign of Opera's dominance of the entire mobile browser market.

What will happen to the desktop browser now?
Given that paid support is likely to have a limited lifespan, one possible option which would generate some public interest, not to mention great PR, would be to open-source the browser. This must seem tempting to Opera bigwigs given the lightning pace of development shown by the unpaid volunteers working on the Firefox project. On the other hand Opera Software may be taking a page out of Google's book and offering free-yet-proprietary software to the world, all the while betting that the software's performance and features will boost the company's reputation in the public eye.

Comment
Hmm ... giving away quality software for desktop PCs ... proven technological innovation ... demonstrable longevity amidst fierce competition ... complete domination of a massively growing market. Sounds a bit like the history of a certain fruit company. Opera Software went public on the Norwegian stock market last year - could it be time to buy some shares?

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