> is 4.0b2 and gives you 30 days free evaluation. Whilst this version is far
> superior and preferable to Netscape or Mozilla is it worth $39?
>
Depends. What do you want out of a browser? If it's fast, stable and
has at least the functionality of IE5 in Windows (i.e. plugins etc.)
then I would pay the $39 for it, assuming of course that future minor
upgrades are free, and some level of support is included in the price.
If you're getting all you want out of another browser then it's not
worth the money. If you aren't and Opera can make up the shortfall then
IMHO it's worth the money.
Bear in mind that non-open source software costs money to develop. The
market that they are going after might not be inclined to go and buy a
support contract in large enough numbers to make the development costs
feasible. I would imagine that they are also licensing plugins from
various vendors, and must make up their costs.
Microsoft & Netscape are both producing software that relies on web
browsers for its market (webservers etc) and so the production of web
browsers is already necessary for them (and as the web browsers
themselves don't provide a revenue stream, they both seem to be very
cavalier about the quality of them). Opera produce a web browser, and
need to derive a revenue stream from this.
Rgds,
--
Ruairi Newman
http://tech-mad.org/
"Anyone can build a fast CPU. The trick is to build a fast system." -
Seymour Cray
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