Brief Hands-On Report--Opera Web Browser Updated to 8.5 with No Ads

Opera updated it web browser to version 8.5. It is available via the "Check for new release" selection under the application's Help menu or as a standalone file from this Opera Web page. For the former, be sure to select the Mac tab in the download window.

The good news is that Opera removed the integrated banner ads from its standard web browser and no longer charges a license fee for the ad-free version. Instead, Opera is charging $29 for premium support but there is also free standard support. Opera is one of the fastest and most fully-featured Web browsers available for the Mac.

The bad news is that Opera still does not render bold text in the Geneva font that we use for Macs Only! [Bill Fox]