Opera Software ASA has announced that Opera’s Linux versions will be distributed with Mandrake Linux, made by MandrakeSoft. This announcement follows yesterday’s similar statement regarding the release of Opera for Linux within the SuSE Linux distrbution.
Sounds good but will it be free?
Sorry, I missed that line:
In a separate statement, the company also specified that the version to be included in Mandrake and SuSE Linux will be the free, ad-sponsored version of the browser client.
Opera is free. All you have to put up is a 468×60 ad, and if you adjust all these opera option bars around it, it fits quite well and it does not take any real space. It works pretty well for me.
download the latest browser from opera!
6.04 for Windows and 6.02 for Linux!
In a separate statement, the company also specified that the version to be included in Mandrake and SuSE Linux will be the free, ad-sponsored version of the browser client.
It’s already been included with Mandrake 8.2 for some time – why is this news? Will they offer the no-add version as a download in the Mandrake Club?
It’s already been included with Mandrake 8.2 for some time – why is this news? Will they offer the no-add version as a download in the Mandrake Club?
I don’t remember the ad-supported version being on the standard download version. Plus, the deal is only for the ad-supported version, you would have to pay $40 for the full version. Believe me, it is worth it, because you would get a free upgrade to version 7 and a discounted upgrade to version 8 and a free upgrade to version 9 and so on.
…I downloaded a copy for solaris (5.something beta?). It’s buggy as all hell (as far as rendering of content goes), but man is this thing FAST.
Didn’t Mandrake just make a press release about United Linux talking about how they (mandrake) always release source code /free software?
Opera isn’t going to give the source out.
With that out of the way I use Opera on my Linux box, its blazing fast and has alot of cool features (tabbed browsing is 2nd to none), but once Mozilla gets faster and customized there wont be much reason to use an Opera browser unless the source is released.
The beauty of Linux is that it’s open source; if you’re a coder, that means that you can look at exactly how the software on your computer is made and learn from it; and if you’re not, you get the benefit of having teams of people work on software not for a profit, but for the love of coding.
So if you use Linux just to run Operae, which is not only a closed source browser but an ad-supported one… then why bother using Linux? You can buy Windows OEM, legally, for $40, only a little more than you’d pay for a Mandrake box set with Opera in the first place; and then you can download Opera for free.
I’ve used both browsers, and just as much as Linux is better than Windows for advanced users, Mozilla/Galeon is better than Opera. If you don’t believe me, try it.
In Opera, all your browsing is confined within tabs. Sometimes, it is more convenient to have separate windows (each with its own tabs) for different types of web pages. For example, I might have one window with several tabs of GNU/Linux-related webpages while having another (in another virtual desktop) containing tabs on my research issues. Opera does not allow you to do that (one cannot even start a separate instance) while Mozilla/Galeon do. And I find it easier to manage tabs in Galeon than in Mozilla. One feature missing from all of them is the ability to haul a tab onto a new window .. the only way to do (and in Mozilla/Galeon) is to right-click on its link on its parent page and “Open in new window”.
I was more than willing to read ad banners and even click on the few that interested me in exchange for using the superior browser, but opera has greatly multiplied the number of ads that flash, wiggle, vibrate, blink, and otherwise try to coerce you into registering by annoying the living sh1t out of you. Even as I type this the “winner” ad banner is flashing right through the paper on my monitor that I tried to cover it with. “FSCK” opera. I will not be coerced into registering by flashing ads. Cover the ad banner with notepad and tell the marketing einshteens at opera to cram their attempts at forced registration by coercion right up their asses. The product loyalty that took years to gain is being wiped out in mere minutes. This crap didn’t work for free ISP’s and it won’t work for you either. I hate you like spit.
…I downloaded a copy for solaris (5.something beta?). It’s buggy as all hell (as far as rendering of content goes), but man is this thing FAST.
Well, it is a beta of an project they abandon. What did you expect?
So if you use Linux just to run Operae, which is not only a closed source browser but an ad-supported one… then why bother using Linux? You can buy Windows OEM, legally, for $40, only a little more than you’d pay for a Mandrake box set with Opera in the first place; and then you can download Opera for free.
Firstly, Windows OEM prices only applies to users buying a new computer (buying a computer is more expensive than buying retail). Secondly, the free version of Opera is in Mandrake’s free version too. Thirdly, for Linux users who enjoy Linux’s flexiblities (like me) and Opera’s features and speed (like me again), why can’t we have both?
I just wished one day that people just realize that RMS’s socialistic dream is utopian, and would probably never work out.
With that out of the way I use Opera on my Linux box, its blazing fast and has alot of cool features (tabbed browsing is 2nd to none), but once Mozilla gets faster and customized there wont be much reason to use an Opera browser unless the source is released.
Though Opera has tabbed browsing, it pushes MDI more. I at first was reluctant to use MDI, but right now, I can’t live without it. Besides, don’t except to see any source code. Why? Opera have to stay profitable. Unlike Mozilla which has AOL financially backing it, Opera’s survival is in them making money.
In Opera, all your browsing is confined within tabs. Sometimes, it is more convenient to have separate windows (each with its own tabs) for different types of web pages. For example, I might have one window with several tabs of GNU/Linux-related webpages while having another (in another virtual desktop) containing tabs on my research issues. Opera does not allow you to do that (one cannot even start a separate instance) while Mozilla/Galeon do. And I find it easier to manage tabs in Galeon than in Mozilla. One feature missing from all of them is the ability to haul a tab onto a new window .. the only way to do (and in Mozilla/Galeon) is to right-click on its link on its parent page and “Open in new window”.
William, you obviously haven’t used Opera much.
To get tabbed browsing ala Galeon/Mozilla, open Preference, click Windows, and untick “Open windows within Opera’s workspace”. Then, after restarting Opera, click the “View” menu, and select “Page bar” and select the location you want the tabs to be in. Now, to open a page in a new tab, right click on the link, and select “Open in a new page” or “Open in background page”. If you want to have it in a seperated window, click “Open in a new window” or “Open in backgroud”. And then, viola, tabbed browsing.
The only thing you would find different from galeon/mozilla is that in mozilla, when there isn’t any tabs, the bar dissapears, but in Opera, you would have to hide it manually.
I was more than willing to read ad banners… I will not be coerced into registering by flashing ads. Cover the ad banner with notepad… The product loyalty that took years to gain is being wiped out in mere minutes. This crap didn’t work for free ISP’s and it won’t work for you either. I hate you like spit.
Nice troll. Firstly, by the end of the sentence, it seems that you were using Opera way before the free ad-supported version came out. So, obviously, you paid for it. And then now you do not wish to pay for it, and expect Opera to remove ads from their product. So, in conclusion, you are unhappy with Opera because they wouldn’t give an product for free to once-paying freeloader. If you don’t want the ads, you pay for Opera so the developers can feed their children while making a great browser, or live with ads placed there so they would get money from advertisers because the users don’t want to pay them. If you are willing to use Opera, and really like it for everything except the ads, pay them.
BTW, I had used Opera 6 for a long long time with ads, and right now I’m stuck on an ad version until I get DSL (long long story). I haven’t notice any obstructive ads. After awhile, I don’t notice it unless I’m waiting for a image-laden website to load up (which is rare). I found a lot of deals because of their ads anyway 🙂
You *can* duplicate a tab in a new window in Mozilla. Just install the mouse gestures add-on at http://optimoz.mozdev.org/ All you have to do is hold your mouse button and motion down-up.
I have to agree with you on your point about Opera’s inability to have a separate window. It’s strange that they would have left out such a standard browser feature.
IF you guys are so fuc*ing upset about the ads, why the hell don’t you just crack it? Find a serial somewhere and stop whining.
since i think SuSe is the biggest piece of crap in the Linux community and Mandrake is the second biggest piece of crap, same with Opera as far as browsers go it is a piece of crap adware that is not worth the click to download…
Slackware or Gentoo with Mozilla are the way to go in Linux, Redhat if you MUST to have a dumbed down distro of Linux…
i dont see what is so bad about some company making a browser that people have to pay for if they dont want ads. if you dont like it ads or pay dont use it!
viva capitolism! (which has done more good than socialism!)
Professor Brainiac wrote:
“Nice troll. Firstly, by the end of the sentence, it seems that you were using Opera way before the free ad-supported version came out. So, obviously, you paid for it. And then now you do not wish to pay for it, and expect Opera to remove ads from their product. So, in conclusion, you are unhappy with Opera because they wouldn’t give an product for free to once-paying freeloader.”
Psychologists call what you are doing “drawing bizzarre conclusions from the available data”. It’s a key characteristic of schizophrenics. And besides, you’re calling a “once-paying” customer a “freeloader” because he objects when the new marketing model exceeds human decency??? It’s one thing to be ad-supported, it is quite another thing for those ads to flash brightly or jiggle back and forth obtrusively so that the whole browsing experience becomes infuriating.
Professor Brainiac continues:
“If you don’t want the ads, you pay for Opera so the developers can feed their children”
For all I care they can “feed their children” to Internet Explorer developers. Nobody is going to coerce me into giving them $40 just so they’ll quit flashing ads in my eyes while I’m trying to browse. I don’t reward people for being pigs. There are other browsers I can use.
“BTW, I had used Opera 6 for a long long time with ads, and right now I’m stuck on an ad version until I get DSL (long long story).”
Well you know what? Nobody wants to hear it. And if you haven’t even paid for Opera yourself then maybe you should just shut the f up. Who the hell appointed you spokesman when you’ve never even paid for the product yourself???
Opera good, Mandrake good, idea good.
“One feature missing from all of them is the ability to haul a tab onto a new window .. the only way to do (and in Mozilla/Galeon) is to right-click on its link on its parent page and “Open in new window”.”
In Galeon, you can drag a tab to the outside of the window and it will create a new window. You can also “merge” it with another window again if you select “always show tabs” in the preferences via drag and drop. Of course you can also change the position of a tab via drag and drop. You can also do all this via the “Tab” menu (it has options to detach or merge a tab and to move tabs around).
If there is still something missing for your needs, just tell the Galeon developers and chances are, it will be there in the next version. Just no MDI because that’s useless in a virtual desktop world.
Galeon 2 will kick some major ass (especially with Mozilla font anti-aliasing).