Mozilla Developing Firefox Browser for Windows 8 Metro

Mozilla, the company behind the popular Firefox web browser, has outlined its plans to develop a Windows 8 Metro-style browser for the impending Windows 8 tablet phenomena. Can ISVs in the channel get ideas for developing Windows 8 Metro apps based on Mozilla’s initial development progress?

Mozilla has outlined its preliminary goals for a Windows 8 Metro Firefox and, frankly, they’re quite simple. “The feature goal here is a new Gecko-based browser built for and integrated with the Metro environment,” according to Mozilla, and, like Metro apps before it, the application will run full-screen natively and have touch capabilities.

But Mozilla’s development of Gecko on Windows 8 hasn’t actually begun — yet. Mozilla’s open source development process requires a few careful steps to ensure Mozilla is both compliant to open source technology and meets Windows 8 Metro guidelines. For example, Mozilla is currently focusing on:

What can we learn by looking at Mozilla from afar? It seems as though Windows 8 Metro development shouldn’t be too difficult, since Mozilla is leveraging some existing code and libraries, but pinning down an intuitive and friendly Windows 8 experience may be involved. Remember, Microsoft is set to unveil the Windows 8 Consumer Preview at Mobile World Congress, so developers potentially have an opportunity to see a more focused picture of what a Windows 8 mobile experience should be like. I have a feeling that when developers get their hands dirty building Metro apps, the “style” should catch on quickly, much like iOS developers eventually fell into a groove understanding Apple’s GUI guidelines and style.