What a day

December 21, 2010 (approximate) · by Espen André Øverdahl

Bacon proves to be most important viral marketing tool.

A little more than a year ago, we launched Opera 10.10. We were stunned to see an average of 1,7 million downloads per day the first week. In fact in our own words: "this download rate shatters previous Opera records."

What a difference a year makes. Yesterday, Opera 11 was downloaded a total of 6.7 million times with 1,1 millions coming from download partners around the globe.

What about auto-update, you say? There's no question that auto-update does help download numbers, as it should. We want people using the newest version and we want to make it easy for them to get it. Still, not every single person using Opera's desktop version received the auto-update message. 50 million downloads all at once might, at worst, rip a hole in the fabric of space-time, sending our offices hurtling into a parallel universe where toasters fly and everyone uses MS Bob. Or it might just make the downloads really slow. Either way, we aren't taking chances.

A survey of people downloading Opera for the first time had 53% of its respondents coming from Firefox, and 43% coming from IE.

We didn't do this alone. It took a lot of help from all of you to make it happen. That's the way it's always been at Opera. So thank you. Thank you for downloading Opera. Thank you for sharing it with your friends. Thank you for believing that an independent browser fighting to make the Web a better place is an idea worth supporting.

Or was it the bacon?

Readers' comments 68

Left under the original article, as archived.

Maciej Duda17. December 2010, 12:12
Congratulations on great result. I like the way you promote Opera on Reddit!
Sami Serola17. December 2010, 12:13
It's always a pleasure to download new version of Opera
Tamil17. December 2010, 12:14
Daniel1517. December 2010, 12:16
Congratulations! The new version is great
Nico17. December 2010, 12:18
MS Bob I remember it just too well.

Congratulations on this new record!

Like the Duke would say: "Makin' Bacon!"
Luca17. December 2010, 12:20
I'll do all i can to help my favourite browser
Robbie17. December 2010, 12:24
Well done guys and gals. You all deserve recognition for the hard work. I mean espenao had to go and photograph bacon without the rest of the team eating it. That must of been difficult?
Savageman17. December 2010, 12:26
That's cool. 2 years and a half ago, Firefox 3 world record was just above 8M in 1 day and 28M in 2 weeks.

Beware, Opera is catching up!
Newto17. December 2010, 12:38
my support to you guys, keep it up the good work.
Joel17. December 2010, 12:43
Congratulations Opera, don't give up!
Dżek17. December 2010, 12:43
i downloaded it twice
Kai Ockendorf17. December 2010, 12:46
Originally posted by lucaviozzi:

I'll do all i can to help my favourite browser

+1

Opera is like a Jedi, using the force ...the best browser ideas come from Norway & it´s a great honor for us to use it!!!!
Morphdreamer17. December 2010, 12:48
Zlate17. December 2010, 12:52
Great browser

<3 from Macedonia
Jared17. December 2010, 12:53
I Opera & Bacon!
Ahmed Ghanem17. December 2010, 12:56
I know that I contributed to at least 10 of these downloads as I installed it on my laptop, 2 computers at my house and 7 others at campus
Parken und Meer17. December 2010, 13:01
baby
Luxor17. December 2010, 13:01
Rachel17. December 2010, 13:03
samMD17. December 2010, 13:04
Eyal201017. December 2010, 13:19
I Enjoy & Happy With OPERA 11 I IT
ursus arctos17. December 2010, 13:35
GDR!17. December 2010, 13:50
Not very surprising, since you have enabled auto-updates by default
CB Development17. December 2010, 13:51
I'm kind of proud to have convinced at least 4 people of using Opera
Yair Mohr17. December 2010, 13:52
Great to hear Opera is doing great...
11 is another milestone that shows how much ahead of Mozilla, Google, Microsoft etc. you guys really are.
Alexei17. December 2010, 13:52
Bacon - best marketing tool ever!

Congrats, Opera!
Uncle Mick17. December 2010, 14:01
Originally posted by EspenAO:

... everyone uses MS Bob.
17. December 2010, 14:25
Originally posted by chooseopera:

the bacon
Andile6317. December 2010, 14:40
congratulations. Great product=great followers behind it.

Keep it up!
Arun Prabu - Arun's Opera17. December 2010, 14:47
Great... Opera should not let the users go away from the browser..
here's the review
http://uiavenue.com/2010/12/browsers/opera-11-review/
wilk17. December 2010, 14:50
Congrats Opera! Thanks for the best web browser.
Artur „Jurgi” Jurgawka17. December 2010, 14:58
Keep it up.
GrantTLC17. December 2010, 15:17
One word: Extensions. Having Lastpass alone makes this a much more attractive proposition for legions of people who've tried the browser but weren't happy with the default options. I've been reading comments decrying the lack of 3rd-party extensibility for YEARS, and it seems to be most people's 'deal-breaker'.

Hopefully this means an end to the dark years of less than 2% market share? (when Google chrome's launch saw it pick up more share than Opera had ever had...) I sincerely hope so because I love love LOVE this browser.
Rafael Luik17. December 2010, 15:34
Originally posted by GrantTLC:

Hopefully this means an end to the dark years of less than 2% market share? (when Google chrome's launch saw it pick up more share than Opera had ever had...)
http://my.opera.com/haavard/blog/2009/11/03/browser-stats

Now Chrome has more users than Opera of course, I'm just showing there's something wrong with these statistics.
.ed17. December 2010, 17:10
Matt Durkin17. December 2010, 17:13
I love Opera!!
Rezaul islam17. December 2010, 17:33
More better than others.
Mimdala17. December 2010, 17:40
I promote Oper everywhere I go!!!!
abdur9217. December 2010, 17:43
Love Opera!
Convinced 5 friends to use it.
AmaZinger17. December 2010, 17:51
Forward, Opera!!!
Mik Furie17. December 2010, 18:24
A survey of people downloading Opera for the first time had 53% of its respondents coming from Firefox, and 43% coming from IE.
More people are happy with IE than Firefox? Isn't that a sign of the apocalypse?
Siupermen17. December 2010, 18:37
Opera is the best.
Manu17. December 2010, 18:44
We congratulate and thank you guys for the hard work you put into our favorite browser (or for some the future favorite browser), and making everything work smoothly, not to mention the great contests that you make, and so forth.
The road you guys took in the last couple of year is a good one, a more open one, and I hope to see Opera to be as known, or more known than FF or Chrome.
Merry Christmas and a happy New Year to everyone around here!
d4rkn1ght17. December 2010, 18:48
Monalizsa17. December 2010, 19:38
I like it Opera ....
Artur17. December 2010, 20:09
I don't like beacon.
massimo urban17. December 2010, 20:19
Karen17. December 2010, 20:19
Bacon for the win! \o/
Kizin17. December 2010, 20:53
OMFG! Opera 11 rocks! since 2 years ago you guys are doing it .

Greetings from México =)
Ahmed Ghanem17. December 2010, 20:57
Lol, I think it's time for Operation CMESB... ahm which is an acronym for "converting my eldest stubborn brother" who still uses IE