I know most of you prefer Firefox nowadays, but in case you get tired of buggy extensions, check out this deal: Download.com is offering the full (ad-free) version of Opera for free, but only today!

For one day only, you can get an ad-free version of Opera. Simply e-mail registerme@opera.com to obtain a registration code. This offer is valid from 12 a.m. Tuesday, August 30 to 12 a.m. Wednesday, August 31 2005 (PDT).

http://www.download.com/Opera/3000-2356_4-10421507.html?tag=excl

Anyone know if this works for Mac/Linux as well? I wouldn't mind having a copy of Opera around, for testing XHTML and CSS in... But I refuse to install anything with ads on my computers...

I suppose I could try it myself, but I've got the whole day to wait and see if anyone knows. ;) Plus, it's late. And I should be sleeping.

Anyone know if this works for Mac/Linux as well? I wouldn't mind having a copy of Opera around, for testing XHTML and CSS in... But I refuse to install anything with ads on my computers...

I suppose I could try it myself, but I've got the whole day to wait and see if anyone knows. ;) Plus, it's late. And I should be sleeping.

Go to Opera's birthday page and request the key from there. I got a Windows, Mac, Solaris, Linux and FreeBSD registration codes.

Birthday Party Link (http://my.opera.com/community/party/)

That's cool! Maybe it's time to give Opera a chance. Thank you Leslie!

That's cool! Maybe it's time to give Opera a chance. Thank you Leslie!

My thoughts exactly. Probably not enough to make me switch from Firefox but it is a nice browser that has been on the forefront of many browsing innovations. At least worth checking it out.

Birthday Party Link (http://my.opera.com/community/party/)
It's getting utterly Slashdotted (http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/08/30/1433242)... So much for Opera servers. :huh:


Now I must wait for the /. effect to cool off... Must get keys before midnight...


Edit: Got keys! {edited out part about logging IP address - apparently it does allow multiple keys as long as your e-mails hold out}. Now I have three sets of keys.

O.o Apparently they don't feel like checking the e-mail addresses, either, so you can enter junk and get a key. Wow.


Opera itself is nice... But wow, does it suck on OSX. It crashes. On startup. 2/3 times. Run it once, it crashes. Hit the "Reopen" button on the "crash report" dialogue, and it crashes again. Hit the "Try Again" button on the crash dialogue, and it'll work. And it's very, very consistent. Thanks for the thought, Opera, but I'm sticking to my Safari...

Editorial (http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20050830-5256.html) at Ars Technica:

Could today's give-away be a prelude to a change in Opera licensing? I wouldn't be surprised to see the company eventually eliminate commercial versions of the desktop browsers. Opera's mobile products are an important, and dare I say, far more attractive part of their software line-up.

Woohoo, got home from work, and there were my reg codes waiting for me :)

Now to see if Firefox has any competition...

Craig.

I installed it on Win XP and so far it looks great! Will tell you in a week if it has a chance against Firefox.