Opera started out as a research project in Norway's largest telecom company, Telenor, in 1994, and branched out into an independent development company named Opera Software ASA in 1995. Opera Software develops the Opera Web browser, a high-quality, multi-platform product for a wide range of platforms, operating systems and embedded Internet products.

In addition to the web browser, the other main component in the Opera suite is the Opera Mail client, previously known as M2. Opera Mail supports regular POP and SMTP mail as well as IMAP. It also has an Address book. Opera Mail also features a newsreader and a newsfeed reader for RSS and Atom, as well as an IRC client for online chat. The forthcoming Opera 9 will also feature widgets as well as further BitTorrent functionality.

Opera Features

• Opera's advanced fraud protection protects you against web sites that try to steal your personal information. Watch the demo to learn how to enable this feature.
• You don't need a separate BitTorrent application to download large files. Simply click a torrent link and start the download.
• Right-click on the site's search field and select "Create search" from the menu.
• Want to view a site in a different way or deny certain cookies? Want to block pop-ups on certain sites only? Right click and select "Edit site preferences".
• Use advanced text editing features for today's most popular Web applications.
• It is easy to have many tabs open at once in Opera. But exactly which tab had that video you wanted? Hover your mouse on any tab to see a thumbnail preview.
• View download progress and access all your downloads from one simple transfer manager window.
• Keyboard shortcuts - like mouse gestures - make your browsing faster and more efficient. Read more about all the keyboard shortcuts in Opera.