---
title: "Free Opera"
date: 2005-08-31 23:30
status: published
description: >
  Captain Opera to the rescue!

tags: web browsers, Opera, Captain Opera

links:
  - url: http://opera.com
    title: "Opera"
    rel: related
    type: text/html
  - url: http://getfirefox.com
    title: "Firefox"
    rel: related
    type: text/html

---

<p>
Yesterday, Opera gave itself away for free. That sounds odd... Opera the company gave Opera the browser away for free. Or, perhaps, <a href="http://www.google.co.uk/search?&amp;q=%22Captain+Opera%22" title="Editor's note: I came up with the name independently of everyone else. I'm so cool.">Captain Opera</a> mightily morphed the in-chrome adverts into oblivion. Yes, by the way, you've missed it.
</p>
<blockquote cite="http://my.opera.com/community/party/">
<p>
But don't despair - you can still get Opera for free by joining our affiliate program. Just put an Opera-button on your webpage, get 250 people to click it, and you're home free!
</p>
</blockquote>
<p>
I wonder how long it is before it's just plain free? This would, of course, be a Good Thing™ - any more alternatives to Internet Explorer 6 are generally good.
</p>
<p>
But also, Opera is quite a good browser. Seriously. Their implementation of tabs is better than Firefox's; everything opens in a tab - including history, bookmarks and downloads.
</p>
<p>
And I don't care whether an “old-fashioned multiple-document interface isn't tabs” - it's better; one can view two pages side-by-side more easily than in Firefox.
</p>
<p>
Of course, I'm still using Firefox, for its extensions, particularly <a href="https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/10/">Adblock</a> (with <a href="https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/1136/">Filterset.G Updater</a>). And its layout engine (Gecko) seems less prone to hiccups than Opera's (Presto). And it doesn't have Captain Opera.
</p>