[thelist] Opera browser- now with a (free) new version

[martin.p.burns at uk.pwcglobal.com]

Memo from Martin P Burns of PricewaterhouseCoopers

-------------------- Start of message text --------------------

Shirley & James

My first instincts are the same as yours. However, I wonder if they
have had an eye on Euroda, which has a similar choice.

[side note:]
actually
Eudora has 3 versions:
1) Paid
2) Adware
3) Free, but crippled
[/side note]

I've not downloaded Opera5, so I don't know how intrusive the ads are.
In Eudora, they're small enough to filter out.

I think the thinking is that if Eudora can build a respectable market share
in the face of Outlook/OE (which is also free-ish in that you can't buy it as
a separate package), so can Opera. And the more general nastiness IE
inflicts, the more people will want an alternative - I think this year's spate
of
Outlook-affecting virii did wonders for Eudora's user base. It certainly
made me remove Outlook from my home Windows machines.

Martin



Please respond to thelist at lists.evolt.org
To:   thelist at lists.evolt.org
cc:


Subject:  Re: [thelist] Opera browser- now with a (free) new version



James,

Ah, your opinion is interesting to hear, and I'm anxious to see how the
overall acceptance is to their new adware approach. Personally I'm not
too thrilled with adware and don't use it, either. On the other hand,
I've been thinking today that Opera now may have a far better chance to
be more widespread now that it's free. My impression is that people are
interested in it but also don't want to have to pay for a browser when
there are others that are free. If the general population doesn't like
adware, then they may not grow to be big competition.


Aylard JA (James) wrote:

>
>> I wonder if this will actually increase there user base?
>
>
>    Personally, I doubt it. My suspicion/contention has long been that
> the two primary groups of Opera users are 1) developers who prize its
> relatively strong standards compliance and use it to test their pages, and
> 2) Norwegians proud of a home-grown product. With the release of Netscape 6,
> the anti-Microsoft crowd have an up-to-date alternative to IE, so I'd say
> few of them are going to bother with yet another download (except for those
> that also fall into categories one and two, above).
>    That Opera has gone down the adware route suggests the degree of
> trouble they are having promoting their product. Many people won't touch
> adware for any reason (I'm selective, but generally very wary of adware),
> which will also crimp its acceptance.



--------------------- End of message text --------------------

The principal place of business of PricewaterhouseCoopers and its associate
partnerships is 1 Embankment Place, London WC2N 6NN where lists of the
partners' names are available for inspection. All partners in the associate
partnerships are authorised to conduct business as agents of, and all
contracts for services to clients are with, PricewaterhouseCoopers. The UK
firm of PricewaterhouseCoopers is authorised by the Institute of Chartered
Accountants in England and Wales to carry on investment business.
PricewaterhouseCoopers is a member of the world-wide
PricewaterhouseCoopers organisation.
----------------------------------------------------------------
The information transmitted is intended only for the person or entity to which
it is addressed and may contain confidential and/or privileged material.  Any
review, retransmission, dissemination or other use of, or taking of any action
in reliance upon, this information by persons or entities other than the
intended recipient is prohibited.   If you received this in error, please
contact the sender and delete the material from any computer.