With version 8.5, released in 2005, the ads were completely removed, and the browser's primary financial support came through revenue from Google (by contract, Opera's default search engine). Subsequent versions have given users the choice of seeing banner ads or targeted text ads from Google. With version 5.0, released in 2000, Opera became ad-sponsored, displaying ads to users who had not paid for it. To this point, Opera was trialware and had to be purchased after the trial period. Opera 4.0, released in 2000, included a new cross-platform core that facilitated the creation of editions of Opera for multiple operating systems and platforms.

Development for mobile device platforms started in 1998. Opera was initially released on 10 April 1995, and then it was released publicly in 1996 with version 2.10, which ran on Microsoft Windows 95. In 1994, Jon Stephenson von Tetzchner and Geir Ivarsøy started developing the Opera web browser while working at Telenor, a Norwegian telecommunications company.

Main article: History of the Opera web browser The company released a gaming-oriented version of the browser, Opera GX, in 2019, and a blockchain-focused Opera Crypto Browser into public beta in January 2022. Opera users also have access to Opera News, a news app based on an AI platform. There are also mobile versions called Opera Mobile and Opera Mini. Opera is available on Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, and iOS (Safari WebKit engine). In 2013, it switched from the Presto engine to Chromium. It was commercial software for its first ten years and had its own proprietary layout engine, Presto. Opera was initially released on 10 April 1995, making it one of the oldest desktop web browsers still actively developed. The browser is based on Chromium, but distinguishes itself from other Chromium-based browsers ( Chrome, Edge, etc.) through its user interface and other features. Opera is a multi-platform web browser developed by its namesake company Opera. (Formerly FreeBSD, Nintendo Wii, and Nintendo DSi) Opera 82 displaying the Wikipedia main page on Windows 11

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