Opera Software ASA released new versions of its namesake Web browser for both Linux and Windows clients Wednesday.
The upstart Oslo, Norway, company boasts more than 10 million downloads of its Windows browser and more than 1 million of its Linux browser prior to these releases, company officials said.
The new Windows browser, Opera 6.02 for Windows, adds a short messaging service (SMS) panel to send SMS text messages to wireless device users, though that feature is currently only available in the Norwegian version.
Other new features include an OperaMail button on the Personal bar, which allows users to log in to their Web mail account while surfing in Opera and direct links to more Web sites from the integrated search box.
New features in the Linux version include a contact list to store information on friends and colleagues, a cookie management editor, import/export of bookmarks, contact lists, Windows setup files and pages, bookmark searching, new keyboard shortcuts, “hotclicking” on selected words and phrases to do searches, encyclopedia lookups or translations on it, a new personal bar for organizing bookmarks and searches in one place, and Unicode support for Eastern European and Asia Pacific users.
Both versions of Opera are available for free download, but advertising-free versions can be purchased for $39.