[Rome, Italy] Opera Software, (www.opera.com) the Oslo-based technology company, announced this week that it would be releasing its popular web browser Opera 5.02 for Windows in the Italian language.

"The [English language] launch of Opera 5.02 for Windows has been met with enthusiasm in Italy," said Jon S. von Tetzchner, CEO, Opera Software, "and we expect an Italian language version to accelerate this."

On December 6, 2000, Opera 5 for Windows was released. It was the first free version of the company's critically acclaimed web browser. Within 30 days, nearly 2 million copies had been downloaded from the websites of Opera and its partners. Despite being released only in the last weeks of 2000, Opera made it into 5th place on CNet's Download.com's wrap-up of the past year "The Best Downloads of 2000."

In addition to the 2 million downloads, Opera signed distribution agreements to deliver nearly 10 million copies through partnerships with numerous publications worldwide. Early this year, Opera also began shipping localized language versions of the browser, lowering the barrier to access for millions of non-English speakers. The latest version is that for Italians.

"Currently, only the user interface has been translated into Italian," company spokesperson, Pal A. Hvistendahl, told Internet News, "but the help files will follow in a future stage."

The popular Opera web browser is also available in Macintosh, Linux, BeOS, and EPOC formats. Opera 5.02 for Windows in Italian, along with Opera for other platforms, can be downloaded from www.opera.com.

Opera Software AS is an industry leader in the development of web browsers for the desktop and device markets. The Opera browser has received international acclaim from end-users and the industry press for being faster, smaller and more standards-compliant than other browsers. Opera Software AS is a privately held company headquartered in Oslo, Norway.