Opera is officially the first mainstream browser to possess native Virtual Private Network (VPN) support. The company made this announcement in a blog post yesterday saying that we would no longer have to download VPN extensions or pay for VPN subscriptions in order to hide our identity when browsing in public or gain access to blocked websites.
Thanks for that Opera. Very thoughtful of you.
Right now though, it’s only available on the developer version of the browser. So although you can go ahead and download it, this isn’t the finished product.
What is VPN and why is this news important?
A VPN can be defined as a technology that creates an encrypted connection over a less secure one. This encrypted connection thus makes it very difficult for hackers or governments to monitor that user’s web traffic. In addition, a virtual private network also allows the user access to content in other countries which are restricted in his or her country/location.
Having said that, since none of the mainstream browsers before now had VPN support, users had to either subscribe to a third party to provide that service and then download the appropriate plug-in. However, now that Opera has integrated this right into its browser, anyone wanting to use VPN can just access the web using that browser and not have to pay or download any plug-ins for an alternative browser.
Who no like awoof?
All in all, I can say that Opera’s really working hard at increasing its market share, considering it only just added a built-in ad blocker last month. Will these new features be enough to sway more people to use its browser? The stats will tell in a couple of months I guess.