In less than 1 month after celebrating its 10 year anniversary by giving free download of the full Ad-Free version of Opera 8.02, Opera Software has decided to remove the banners on the top right hand corner within the browser and the licensing fee. In other words, you can now download a FREE Ad-free Opera web browser !!

Well, if you are not familiar with Opera web browser, here are the main key features including :-

• A fresh new look and sleek interface
• Security - protecting you from phishing threat, infection of spyware and malware
• They claimed it’s the fastest browser on earth
• Tabbed browsing and pop-up blocking
• Integrated search ability within the web browser
• Customization, where you can change its skin
• Voice !! This caught my attention !!

While you are downloading it, you may want to view some screen shots of the web browser. After you have installed it, you may feel like want to customize its interface, then you’ll need some Opera skins.

Before Micorsoft manage to launch its long awaited Internet Explorer (IE) 7.0 next year, both major web browser developers, Mozilla Foundation and Opera Software are trying to grab more market share. For me, competition is always good for improvements. Hope by facing stiff competition from their close competitors, Microsoft can come out with something really impressive in the forthcoming versions of IE, otherwise I don’t think users of Firefox and Opera web browser will switch back to IE.