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Opera Software () is a Norwegian corporation, primarily known for its Opera suite of internet applications. Opera Software is also involved in promoting web standards through participation in the W3C. The company has its headquarters in Oslo, Norway and is listed on Oslo Stock Exchange. The company also has offices in Sweden, China, Japan and USA.
History Initially started as a research project within the Norwegian telecommunications corporation Telenor in 1994, Opera Software was founded as an independent company on August 30 1995 by Jon Stephenson von Tetzchner and Geir Ivarsøy *. The first public version of Opera, version 2.1 for Windows was released in 1997. Opera Software had an IPO in February 2004, and was listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange March 11 2004.* The introduction in August 2005 of "Opera Mini", a Java ME based web browser for mobile phones marketed not to end users but to mobile network operators, possibly marks a new direction towards directly revenue generating business, making the company less dependent on give-away and advertising-based Internet software. On September 20 2005, Opera announced that it would remove the advertising from its browser and remain free of charge. Although Opera was free to download and use, it displayed an advertising banner unless the user purchased a license. The move was made in the hope that it would prompt more users to switch to the Opera browser. However, Opera does continue to charge for its "Opera Mobile" product which runs on many Mobile devices. Legal On May 18, 2004, Opera Software settled a lawsuit: Opera Software ASA has settled legal claims with an international corporation resulting in payment to Opera of net USD 12.75 million. The other party is not a customer of Opera and the settlement does not negatively impact future revenues. The entire amount will be booked in Q2. Details are confidential pursuant to the settlement agreement. It is widely theorized that the 'international corporation' named above is Microsoft, who it was previously reported had blocked Opera users from correctly viewing MSN.com. See also | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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