Apparently people are still paying for Opera support

Just the other day I was wondering whether it’s time to remove the “Buy” link (see screenshot below) from the menu bar on Opera’s website. Having a “Buy” link featured so prominently on the page may give the false impression to potential users that Opera cost money.

On the “Buy” page there’s some information about Opera’s paid support for the browser, as well as links to some of Opera’s mobile browsers that still cost money (btw, you could download Opera Mobile for your Pocket PC and Windows Smartphone for free until June).

Now that I’m thinking about it, I don’t see much of a point of having the “Buy” page all together. Opera already has a “Support” section on its site. I’ll have to speak with the Web team about it.

I also wondered how popular the paid support actually is. After all, Opera has great support in the forums, where many Opera users pitch in for help.

It turns out that some people are still using Opera’s support. This fellow Opera user was having issues with his Opera and contacted the paid Opera support. The support team was able to narrow down his problem to VNC.

I’m curious to know whether any of you still use Opera’s paid support.

Even Google's April Fool's joke is not Opera compatible

April Fool’s for Google is no different, even Google TiSP is not Opera compatible.

From www.google.com/tisp/faq.html:

No April Fool's joke from Opera this year; issues comedic guidelines

Opera today issued the following press release with its new April Fool’s policy and guidelines.

Opera announces official April Fool’s policy
Oslo, Norway – April, 2007

Opera Software ASA, makers of the best browser in this, or indeed any, universe, today revealed the results of a five month process to determine this year’s April Fool’s joke. After considerable competitive analysis, structural synthesis, skilled observation, educated prognostication and blind luck, the management along with Opera’s Corporate Relations and Prevarication department determined there will be no April Fool’s joke for FY07.

“It became too much,” said a frustrated Torgrim Odland, director Opera’s Corporate Relations and Prevarication department. “First it was the obviously fake SoundWave digital voice P2P technology and then we turned our employees into models. I cannot imagine what tomfoolery would be next: are we hiring penguins as Linux developers? Perhaps we’ll have our CEO go skydiving dressed as a nun. I didn’t see where this would ever end, so I ended it.”

Worldwide, corporations embracing April Fool’s Day as their only official excuse to have a bit of fun skyrocketed 6000% in 2006, somewhat muting the overall enjoyment of the day, according to a reputable firm whose research, Opera’s promises, was in no way paid for by Mr. Odland or anyone connected to Opera Software ASA and certainly not used to sway executive decision on this matter.

“It’s not often I get to break out of my shell, let alone my basement,” said Olafur “Olli” Arnason, QA Manager for Opera’s Desktop browser. “I really wanted to laugh at a silly press release and pass some scandalous pictures around, but now the suits have ruined it. I guess I’ll just spend my Sunday in Second Life with everyone else I know.”

Official leaked memo here.

Adobe Creative Suite 3 (CS3) uses built-in Opera for rendering engine

The recently announced Creative Suite 3 (CS3) application by Adobe includes a built-in rendering engine of the Opera browser. Opera’s rendering engine is used by several components in the suite.

More details  to come.

Building browsers for a better world

Yesterday’s blog post by Opera’s Lawrence Eng is a must read. He talks about the true essence of Opera.

“Idealists like myself who hear the Opera story will be drawn to Opera with just a little more awareness of who we are and what we’re about. The Open Source success stories of some of our competitors are great, but Opera (being closed source) has a compelling story of its own, continuing to make real a vision of the Open Web that includes everyone. We’re a unique company in a unique position to do a lot of good.”

(Read the rest)

Using Opera in fight against HIV

Baobab, an organization that deploys healthcare technologies in 3rd world countries, is using the Opera browser in its fight against HIV in the country of Malawi.

The system they’re using is a touchscreen computer running a stripped-down Linux OS and Opera. One of the main reasons for them choosing Opera is a result of Opera’s performance and low memory footprint on their low-end hardware.

It feels good to know that Opera is chipping in its assistance on the HIV crisis in its own little way.

The history of the Opera browser and more

Dan Schulz from the Search-This blog wrote a lengthy article in which he covers the history of Opera and a look at some of the popular Opera features. It’s a long and rather interesting read.

Opera jobs over at www.opera.jobs

Want to work at Opera, go to www.opera.jobs. That’s definitely an interesting way for Opera to get notice among job seekers. 🙂

(Some of Opera’s employees)

(Via Haavard)

Polish version of Opera's website released today

Opera released today a localized version of its website for Polish visitors, over at pl.opera.com.

The market share for Opera in Poland has been on a steady rise (see graph below), though there has been a minor dip in the last 6 months according to ranking.pl.

In addition to Polish, Opera also has localized versions in Japanese, Korean, and Russian. More languages are on the way.

Opera at the SXSW conference in Austin, Texas (pictures included)

This week Opera is at the popular SXSW (South by Southwest) conference.

In addition to the talk/presentation by Charles McCathieNevile, the Chief Standards Officer at Opera Software, Opera also has a booth there showing off the Opera desktop browser, Opera Mini, Opera on the Nintendo Wii and DS, and more.

The funny thing about Opera’s booth is that it’s sharing a back wall with the Mozilla Firefox booth (though Opera’s booth is about twice the size of Firefox’s).

While in Austin, a couple Opera guys were wandering around the city and onto the BarCamp Austin, and then proceeded to buy everyone drinks on behalf of Opera. There’s even a press mention of it by the San Francisco Chronicle.

Lawrence Eng, who’s at the conference, sent me some photos last night. Take a look at them below.

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Opera bought and hosted coffee for SXSW attendees on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday morning.

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t the coffee station on Monday, the Nintendo DS Lite on display, running Opera to view the SXSW website

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Opera employees posing with an Opera fan

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Opera on the Nintendo Wii at the booth

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Opera on the NintendoWii displaying MySpace at the booth

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Talking to SXSW attendees

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Opera employees taking a short coffee brake