Opera browser alters MSN text into puppet lingo

OSLO: Norwegian software group Opera took a swipe at U.S. giant Microsoft on Friday by issuing a unique Internet browser that converts text on Microsoft's website into the nonsense language of a popular television puppet.

Opera calls its new browser the "Bork edition" after the "Bork, Bork, Bork!" sound made by the Swedish chef Muppet. In the chef's mock Swedish, the MSN site headline "Weekend movie guide" is rendered "Veekend mufeee-a gooeede-a" and "Looking for a new car?" is "Luukeeng fur a noo cer?" to Opera browser users.

On other sites, including Opera's own, the browser functions normally. An Opera executive said the aim was to protest what Opera alleges is Microsoft's practice of making software that prevents users of the Opera browser -- a rival of Microsoft's own Internet Explorer -- from viewing pages correctly.

Microsoft's spokesman Jim Desler had no immediate comment on Opera's allegations. Lie said: "We are saying that it is wrong to corrupt the Web and distort pages like Microsoft is doing by sending Opera browsers what seem to be intentionally distorted pages."

Lie said companies, including Microsoft, needed to cooperate and act responsibly or the Internet would fail. "Microsoft seems to treat the Web like private property, and that's wrong, and then the Web is going to fail," he said. He said he hoped the Swedish chef browser would make Microsoft change its ways and was an alternative to suing.

"I hope Bill Gates will download it -- it's a good laugh," Lie said. He said that Opera, based in Oslo, Norway, estimates its market share at one to two percent. Industry analysts put Microsoft's share of the global Internet browser market at 96 percent.

"It's not a big number, but makes us number two or three in the statistics since Microsoft has such a dominant share," Lie said. Lie said Opera was a stronger rival to Microsoft than those numbers suggested because it is entering the market for Internet browsers for mobile phones, where the U.S. group's position is less dominant than in the computer market.

Opera has duelled with Microsoft before. It says that in 2001 Opera users were blocked from the MSN site, but that an uproar among Internet users forced Microsoft to let them in. "However, MSN continues a policy of singling out its Opera competitor by specifically instructing Opera to hide content from users," Opera said in the statement.

In June of 2001, a U.S. court of appeals found that Microsoft illegally used its dominance to crush browser rival Netscape and protect its Windows operating system.

In the early stages of Microsoft's legal battle over Netscape, there were problems with Netscape's browser being able to access certain Microsoft websites. Those problems halted after being widely reported in the media.

© Reuters