-=PCTechTalk=- New Version of Opera Available

  • From: "David F. Wooledge" <wooledge001@xxxxxxxx>
  • To: "@freelistts PCTechTalk" <pctechtalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>, accmail Juno <juno_accmail@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Tue, 19 Apr 2005 00:44:44 -0700 (PDT)

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 Norway's Opera Ups Security in New Web Browser
2 hours, 30 minutes ago

By Alister Doyle 
OSLO (Reuters) - Norway's Opera Software (OPERA.OL) added tighter security 
against Internet fraud and new voice technology to a browser unveiled on 
Tuesday in a struggle to win users away from market leader Microsoft 
(Nasdaq:MSFT - news). 
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Listed on the Oslo bourse since March 2004, Opera hopes the upgraded browser 
will lift its market share, now 1 percent to 7 percent according to the 
national market and a fraction of the 90 percent grip by Microsoft's Internet 
Explorer in the United States. 

"Security is very important because that's the thing that makes people switch" 
to a new browser, Opera's chief executive and co-founder Jon von Tetzchner told 
Reuters. 

"We hope people will switch because of security and stay because of the other 
features," he said. The security feature for Opera's new version 8 desktop 
computer browser gives extra information on the identity of suspicious sites. 

Opera's upgraded browser also includes technology in which a computer-generated 
voice can be used to read out highlighted text from web pages. It is also 
faster and has more ability to save and search pages. 

Opera says it has 10 million users of its previous browsers, but only 100,000 
have paid 34 euros ($44.08) for a version excluding advertisements. Most others 
use a free version. 

Opera is often portrayed as a David against a Microsoft Goliath but also faces 
fast-growing rivals like Firefox, developed by a network of computer 
programers, which has gained about five percent of the U.S. market since its 
2004 launch. 

"It's a little bit surprising that Opera hasn't grown more when Firefox 
increased their market share so much," said Ole Andre Hagen, an analyst at ABG 
Sundal Collier. 

He said security vulnerabilities for Microsoft had spurred growth for Firefox, 
despite recent fixes by Microsoft. 

GONE PHISHING 

Opera's extra security seeks to dampen "phishing" -- jargon for when a hoaxer's 
Website tricks users into typing out their bank account number or passwords by 
masquerading as a trusted site, perhaps saying "account update needed." 

Opera's solution is for the browser to display the underlying security 
certificate of each site -- an icon of a yellow padlock on trustworthy sites -- 
to help users judge reliability. It will also show where pop-ups come from. 

"If the site says one name and the security certificate another you might get 
suspicious," von Tetzchner said. No other browser had the feature, he said. 

The new browser also includes new voice recognition software. If a user 
highlights text, for instance of a news story, a computer-generated voice can 
read it out. 

"We're trying to make the Internet more available for everyone," von Tetzchner 
said, adding it could aid people with poor sight. 

Opera also supplies browsers for mobile phones from Nokia (NOK1V.HE) to 
Motorola (NYSE:MOT - news). The browser squeezes web pages into a thin stack to 
give, Opera says, easier and fuller viewing than on a Wireless Application 
Protocol (WAP) phone. 

In turn, the mobile phone technology is in the new desktop browser to give 
flexibility in arranging slim web pages. 

"We've shipped on more than 10 million (mobile phone) units," von Tetzchner 
said, adding the browser was installed on at least 2 million phones in the 
first quarter and last quarter of 2004. "The trend is upwards," he said. 
Opera had 2004 pre-tax profits of 85.6 million Norwegian crowns ($13.51 
million), up from 1.8 million the year before. ($1=6.334 Norwegian Crown) 
($1=.7712 Euro) 


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