Opera Software released a test version of a major update to its Web browser software Thursday, intensifying its efforts, along with open-source rival Firefox, to cut into Microsoft's market share.

The new, as-yet-unnamed software adds stronger support for RSS (Really Simple Syndication)--a technology widely used for automatic access to blogs and other material--and technology that allows users to navigate through voice commands and have Web pages read to them.

The company said it has made enough improvements to turn the final version of this beta download into a major new release, instead of an ordinary incremental upgrade.

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