Opera has seen a massive increased in downloads of its browser following the introduction of the browser ballot 'choice screen' into Microsoft Windows.
Microsoft ended years of arguing by producing a ballot screen that was rolled out in Europe through Windows Update to people who used Internet Explorer – the default browser and another Microsoft product.
The ballot screen gave people the option of choosing a different default browser, listing Opera alongside the likes of IE, Chrome, Safari and Firefox.
Opera has already told TechRadar that it has been delighted by the change it has seen since the ballot page went live, and the statistics show why.
According to three days worth of Opera data, the ballot screen has handed the company a massive boost across Europe – with the UK seeing an 85% increase in downloads for Opera 10.5.
Choice is good
"This confirms that when users are given a real choice on how they choose the most important piece of software on their computer, the browser, they will try out alternatives" said Hakon Wium Lie, CTO of Opera Software.
"A multitude of browsers will make the web more standardised and easier to browse".
According to Opera, the increase represents a doubling from normal download numbers on average – and the impact in some countries has been larger still.
Poland (328%) Spain (215%) and Italy (202%) top the list of increases, with the UK's 85 per cent actually one of the smaller changes.
Your comments (3) Click to add a new comment
jmtyler
March 19th 2010
3. I used to be an Opera user, until I switched over to Chrome. I like Opera, but I'm not a huge fanboy or anything.
The important thing we should be taking away from this article has NOTHING to do with Opera, but rather IE. Who cares what browser all these European users are picking? What's important is that they're fundamentally picking one that _isn't_ IE, which means that maybe web standards can finally start to thrive. If Microsoft eventually feels the hit, they'll have to start supporting decent standards in their browser.
Alert a moderator
sabret00the
March 19th 2010
2. 85% rise in UK downloads != 85% rise in people downloading it.
Alert a moderator
duskrider
March 19th 2010
1. Wow, from one all the way up to one point 85 people are using Opera! Yipee!
Seriously, these numbers in percentage form mean nothing yet. Actual user count, over time, or percent of market share is all that matters. Percentage of growth without actual user numbers is one of the oldest marketing ploys in the game.
I wish them luck though, as competition is good for all of us!
Alert a moderator
Tell us what you think
You need to Log in or register to post comments