Microsoft to Buy Opera

[PeterClark]

Here comes a surprise. In a recent conversation with one of our insiders at Microsoft, the source revealed that Microsoft Corp., the world?s largest software maker, has acquired Opera Software, makers of the Opera browser. The insider reported that both Microsoft and Google were trying to bid on Opera, but in the end, the software maker took the lead.

http://www.cooltechzone.com/index.php?opti...sk=view&id=2108

:|:|

[greg098]

interesting

[Neil]

I find that hard to believe.

[PeterClark]

I find that hard to believe.

why?

Perhaps the most desirable feature that Opera has to offer is its mobile version of the browser. Thus far, it?s the best mobile browser currently on portable devices, and it will surely give Microsoft an easy entry into the mobile market, especially as that market continues to flourish gradually.

[Malisk]

What??

Just yesterday, Slashdot said: Dvorak says MS should buy Opera

THAT I believe though, as he's generally a speculating sensationalism guy. ;)

Due to this weird article coincidence, is this maybe some misunderstood "news" on CoolTechZone's part?

OTOH, they refer to "insiders at MS" so who knows. :s

But it's all very strange, as MS is heavily developing IE 7 right this moment.

[markus]

very interesting news ... but it's seems strange that this news has not popped up anywhere else...

[zhangm Supervisor]

And so Microsoft has been working so hard on IE 7...why?

This doesn't make sense, I smell BS.

[pixated]

I'll believe it when Opera confirms it. Which will be the moment I will stop using it.

[kinetix63 Veteran]

I also find this hard to believe. I am sure that there would have been some rumours surrounding it beforehand, especially with 2 big players like MS and Google involved.

[Neil]

why?

Due to microsoft deveploing IE7 and they have by far the most market share.

[_Dom_]

i carnt see them scrapping IE7 and rebranding Opera IE8

[Malisk]

Hmm, well, the only reason I can see this is being true is for the mobile market reason given above.

I'll believe it when Opera confirms it. Which will be the moment I will stop using it.

It won't stop me -- feature sets and functionality do. But I can understand some have this "boycott" philosophy. ;)

edit: btw, this is pretty funny since I posted a thread on the Opera forums yesterday, asking "MS won't buy Opera, right??" as a joke to the Dvorak article above. :o

[Kino]

:(

no linux opera?

what am i going to do :cry:

[pickleman]

maybe they are buying it to weed out competition?

[biorK]

This smells like BS... I don't believe this "news" one bit untill there's a official press release.

[Krpano]

I'll believe it when Opera confirms it. Which will be the moment I will stop using it.

Me too.

maybe MS doesnt pretend to use opera like you think, maybe they just want to shut down the concurence.

:cry:

[ziper]

:no:

[Rablet]

Due to microsoft deveploing IE7 and they have by far the most market share.

I agree with that, it doesn't make sense...

[markus]

actually the news that google is going to buy opera has been circulating quite a bit, guess just didnt make the headlines: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=microsoft+opera+buy

[Chicane-UK Veteran]

I call BS.. I just don't believe that Microsoft isn't capable of getting its browser into a decent state without buying in another company. Surely it'd be miles cheaper to just coax some good browser coders into the IE team instead?!

Just makes no sense at all.

[pixated]

Hmm, well, the only reason I can see this is being true is for the mobile market reason given above.

It won't stop me -- feature sets and functionality do. But I can understand some have this "boycott" philosophy. ;)

edit: btw, this is pretty funny since I posted a thread on the Opera forums yesterday, asking "MS won't buy Opera, right??" as a joke to the Dvorak article above. :o

I don't really have that philosophy. But when it comes to MS I tend to avoid their stuff as much as possible. Actually I'd probably continue to use this Opera 9 Preview 1 until it really gets outdated at which point I'd switch to Firefox.

I like both browsers, but I'm not using anything from MS that's not open source, which means I'm not using anything (well apart from winblows..). :whistle:

[Malisk]

You'd think they could also just purchase Opera's division for mobile development if that was what they were after. :-/

I also have a hard time understanding exactly which Opera features they can't implement in IE 7+ without buying a company. It's just ordinary features, that's all. :) And MS is a huge company..

I don't really have that philosophy. But when it comes to MS I tend to avoid their stuff as much as possible.

OK, maybe not "boycott" but "avoid without knowing what it'll be like" then? :) I prefer to not judge prematurely personally, but I understand if people have a stance against using MS products where security must be high, given their track record. However, keep in mind Opera's browser in its current form isn't open source either.

[sdtech]

Well Google apparently isn't looking into buying Opera...

http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,123948,00.asp

[McoreD]

BS imo. News is too good to be true.

[mayamaniac]

If this is true, then it has nothing to do with opera mobile or IE7, nor is opera any threat to IE's market share. This has everything to do with google. MS would buy it just so google can't have opera. :p