Geir Ivarsøy (June 27, 1957 – March 9, 2006) was the lead programmer at

Opera Software Opera is a Norwegian multinational technology company and subsidiary of Kunlun that specializes in web browser development, fintech, as well as services such as Opera News and YoYo Games. The company's total user base, including users of its ...

. He and

Jon von Tetzchner Jon Stephenson von Tetzchner (Icelandic: Jón; born 29 August 1967 in Reykjavík) is an Icelandic- Norwegian programmer and businessman. He is the co-founder and CEO of Vivaldi Technologies. Before starting the Vivaldi Web browser, he launched ...

were part of a research group at the Norwegian state phone company (now known as

Telenor Telenor ASA ( or ) is a Norway, Norwegian majority State-owned enterprise, state-owned multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications company headquartered at Fornebu in Bærum, close to Oslo. It is one of the List of mobile network ...

) where they developed browsing software called MultiTorg Opera. The project was abandoned by Telenor, but in 1995 Geir and Jon obtained the rights to the software, formed a company of their own, and continued working on it. Now known simply as

Opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a libre ...

, the browser has become very popular despite the competition.

has grown to more than 500 employees since it first moved to its present offices in

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

. At a board meeting in January 2004, Geir Ivarsøy announced his wish to resign as a board member in

, though he remained active in the company even after that. In June 2005, he was elected as a member of the Nomination Committee of the company. Ivarsøy died in March 2006 of

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal bl ...

distributions starting with Version 9 state "In memory of Geir Ivarsøy" on their ''opera:about'' page.

External links

Opera Web BrowserTranslation of an obituary published in a Norwegian newspaper
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ivarsoy, Geir Norwegian computer programmers 1957 births 2006 deaths Deaths from cancer in Norway Opera Software employees