Microsoft to let Windows 8 web browsers play nice with Metro, Firefox version in the works
We previously heard that Mozilla was planning a Metro version of Firefox, and now developer Brian R. Bondy has announced that the company has begun work on it. While that's good for Firefox fans …
Context & Ripple Effects
This lands three days after Mozilla first confirmed it was developing Firefox for Metro, with developer Brian R. Bondy now stating publicly that the work is under way. The reason it can happen at all is Microsoft's decision, confirmed this week, to let third-party web browsers integrate with the Windows 8 Metro interface rather than reserving the touch-first shell for Internet Explorer.
That decision matters because Windows 8, launched as Microsoft's most vital release in years, makes Metro the front door to the OS. Pickup so far has been specialist press — The Register and OSNews both carried the story — reflecting an audience of platform watchers more than consumers, but the stakes are the default browsing experience on a new Microsoft UI paradigm.
First-order effects
- Firefox users moving to Windows 8 get a path to a native Metro-style browser instead of being confined to desktop-mode Firefox or pushed toward Internet Explorer in the touch shell.
- Microsoft's opening means Internet Explorer no longer holds exclusive default status inside Metro, changing what 'the' Windows 8 browser means at launch.
Second-order effects
- Rival browser vendors now face the same porting decision Mozilla just made: invest engineering in a Metro version or cede the touch-first surface to IE and whoever shows up.
- Mozilla's early move positions Firefox to set the template for how a non-Microsoft engine behaves inside Metro, shaping expectations for integration APIs and touch conventions other vendors will have to match.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, browser competition migrates from the desktop window model onto touch-first OS shells, making each new Microsoft UI layer a fresh contest over defaults.
- The episode becomes a standing test of platform gatekeeping: whether an OS owner must keep its shell open to competing engines, a question regulators and rivals have historically pressed Microsoft on.
The trend: Browser competition is following operating systems into their touch-first shells, with each platform owner's openness decision determining whether third-party engines get a seat.