Opera is now completely free

I think Opera have learnt it the hard way. They are now giving away the latest version of their browser (version 8.5) free. They have even removed the banner ads which were a part and parcel of the free version of the browser and any user who didn’t like their ads had to pay to remove them. The latest change in attitude of Opera suggests that they are going to give their competitors a run for their money. Over 1.5 million copies of the browser have been downloaded from the company’s website since they started offering it free on Tuesday, September 20^th 2005. The interesting fact is that the company’s server log shows that majority of the users who downloaded the new browser were IE users. IE’s popularity has been constantly on the decline and Microsoft needs to take some concrete measures to stay up on top even though it is still a leader in the business.

Internet Explorer is still the most popular browser with a market share of 86% and while Firefox is the second most popular browser with 8.3% share.