Opera在浏览器上添加多媒体、文件共享服务

* New free service available from Opera browsers

 

* Enables sharing files, pix without uploads, from PC

 

* Data can be accessed from any browser

 

By Tarmo Virki, European technology correspondent

 

HELSINKI, June 16 (Reuters) - Norway's Opera Software (OPERA.OL ) opened a new, free service on Tuesday that enables simple sharing of personal computers' pictures, files or music with anyone on the Internet.

 

The new service, part of Opera's Web browser, enables direct downloading from personal computer to personal computer and removes any need for data storage at servers in the middle. Files can be viewed with any browser.

 

Similar technologies have been available before for tech-savvy consumers, but these have required downloading separate software, paying usage fees, or a long process of uploading content -- limiting takeup of services.

 

Opera has built some sharing services for photos and media into the browser but has also opened up the platform for any developers to build their own sharing services.

 

"We believe it is the revolution of the Internet. We see this as a disruptive technology for Internet services in the next one to five years," Phillip Gronvold, product analyst at Opera, told Reuters.

 

Opera is the world's third-largest browser maker with about 40 million users, but is far behind Microsoft's (MSFT.O ) Internet Explorer and Mozilla Foundation's Firefox.

 

"We hope to increase our desktop penetration with this service," Gronvold said. "We feel there's significant time-to-market benefits in browser space."

 

Internet Explorer is used for about 60 percent of global Internet traffic, Firefox has about 30 percent, and Opera is at 4 percent -- just ahead of Google's (GOOG.O ) Chrome and Apple's Safari (AAPL.O ), according to Web analytics firm StatCounter.

 

Microsoft has run afoul of U.S. and European antitrust regulators for bundling its desktop browser with its operating system, which Opera, Mozilla and Google say is an attempt to drive them out of the market.

 

Microsoft said last week it plans to ship the newest version of its Windows operating system in Europe without Internet Explorer browser [ID:nN11506625].

 

Microsoft's move could be a boon for rivals, but Opera has said this was not enough to restore competition [ID:nLC442633].

 

Opera has a small share of the desktop browser market, but its mobile browser is the most widely used browser on handsets. [ID:nL2246841]

 

Gronvold said Opera was working also on a mobile version of Unite, but has not decided on launch schedule. (Reporting by Tarmo Virki; Editing by Gary Hill)