In mid-2008, Opera 9.5 became available for download just ahead of Firefox 3.0. Now, Opera has moved one step further, and as of October 8, it is offering version 9.6 of its browser. Opera 9.6 brings enhancements across the table, although at its heart it is labeled as a security and stability update. Announced at the end of September 2008, Opera 9.6 moved fast through the development milestones, and following two release candidates dropped since the start of this month, the gold bits are now up for grabs.

To see what’s new in Opera 9.6, see the chagelog here: