Microsoft wants to help aid in the development of Firefox. It sounds pretty scary, doesn't it? If you're still here, let me tell you that it's not as bad as it seems. Sam Ramjii, Director of Microsoft's Open Source Software Lab, has extended an invitation to the Firefox and Thunderbird developers asking them if they'd like to visit the company's open source research center. Microsoft's hopes are that, in a four-day span, the company can provide the open source developers with enough information to get the popular web browser running smoothly on Windows Vista.
Last Saturday, Ramjii posted a message in the newsgroup "mozilla.dev.planning" asking Mozilla's Mike Schroepfer and any other Firefox developers if they'd be interested in visiting the Windows Vista Readiness ISV Lab. Ramjii said that he's made a special exception for the Mozilla team since this isn't how the lab invitations normally work.
As part of my mission as an advocate for open source applications on Windows, I've gotten spaces set aside at the Windows Vista Readiness ISV Lab. In the past the company has only invited commercial software developers to these labs. I'm committed to evolving our thinking beyond commercial companies to include open source projects, so I went to the non-trivial effort of getting slots for non-commercial open source projects.
While there's no word as to whether Mozilla has accepted the offer, someone who at least goes by the name of Mike Schroepfer responded by saying, "I believe we are already in contact with your team via email. We will follow-up there." That sounds like a positive response, but even if this event never becomes a reality, it's great to see that Microsoft is concerned about projects like Firefox and Thunderbird. Sure, this could be viewed as a publicity stunt since Ramjii posted in a public forum, but that doesn't make the offer worthless. If this is what needs to happen for Firefox to run unhindered on Vista, then I'm all for it.
