I just read that Opera Software is giving away free copies of the Opera 8 browser for one day - and one day only. I guess that makes Opera about 1/365th as free as Firefox which is available every day of the year at no cost.
I blogged a while back that Opera was moving in the right direction by becoming more like Firefox. I applauded that move and encouraged further simplification of the UI.
Opera's made good strides in this area, enough that I think the major issue today is no longer the UI (though that could still use some work) but the in-chrome advertising and the steep licensing fee.
There aren't enough people willing to pay for the product (even Opera admits that the release of Opera 8 wasn't enough to stop the decline of desktop browser revenue and that licensing wasn't the best way to monetize their browser users.) And there aren't enough people willing to stare at the browser's advertising when the web pages already overwhelm them with advertising. Opera cannot continue with this model if it wants to dramatically grow its user base.
Opera has a solid rendering engine and an improving user interface. If it's going to achieve any significant market penetration, Opera Software should do what the mainstream browsers, Firefox and IE, have done, and give away an ad-free version of the application -- for free, 365 days a year, not just one.
