Opera finally takes the hint - goes free forever

DownloadSquad is reporting that Opera is once again free, but not just for a day or two. They have permanently removed the banner ad and licensing fees to join the browser playing field with Safari, Firefox, IE, Mozilla.... y'know, just about every other browser out there. The new free version has been updated to 8.5, and though I haven't checked the release notes yet, I don't see anything else that's new.

So what do you think TUAW readers? I know a number of you in the past expressed an opinion that Opera won't be a relevant browser until they join the ranks of their free competition – now what say you?