History
Main article: History of the Opera web browser See also: Opera Mobile#History, Opera Mini#History, Nintendo DS & DSi Browser#Launch, Internet Channel#History, and Opera Software#HistoryOpera began in 1994 as a research project at Telenor, the largest Norwegian telecommunications company. In 1995, it branched out into a separate company named Opera Software ASA. Opera was first released publicly with version 2.0 in 1996, which only ran on Microsoft Windows. In an attempt to capitalize on the emerging market for Internet-connected handheld devices, a project to port Opera to mobile device platforms was started in 1998. Opera 4.0, released in 2000, included a new cross-platform core that facilitated creation of editions of Opera for multiple operating systems and platforms.
Up to this point, Opera was trialware and had to be purchased after the trial period ended. Version 5.0 (released in 2000) saw the end of this requirement. Instead, Opera became ad-sponsored, displaying advertisements to users who had not paid for it. Later versions of Opera gave the user the choice of seeing banner ads or targeted text advertisements from Google. With version 8.5 (released in 2005) the advertisements were removed entirely and primary financial support for the browser came through revenue from Google (which is by contract Opera's default search engine).
Among the new features introduced in version 9.1 (released in 2006) was fraud protection using technology from GeoTrust, a digital certificate provider, and PhishTank, an organization that tracks known phishing web sites. This feature was further improved and expanded in version 9.5, when GeoTrust was replaced with Netcraft, and malware protection from Haute Secure was added.
Also in 2006, editions of Opera were made and released for Nintendo's DS and Wii gaming systems. Opera for the Wii, called the Internet Channel, was free to download from its release on 12 April 2007 until 30 June 2007. After that date, Wii users had to pay 500 Wii Points to download it. As of 2 September 2009, it is again free to download. Users who previously paid to download are offered a NES game of their choice of the same value. The Nintendo DS Browser is not free; it is sold as a physical DS game cartridge. The Nintendo DSi has an Internet Channel that can be downloaded for free from the DSi shop.
A new JavaScript engine called Carakan, after the Javanese alphabet, was introduced with version 10.50. According to Opera Software, Carakan makes Opera 10.50 more than seven times faster in SunSpider than Opera 10.10. On December 16, 2010, Opera 11 was released, featuring extensions, tab stacking, visual mouse gestures, and changes to the address bar. The new address bar hides the address's protocol and query information by default. Opera 12 was released on 14 June 2012.
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