Mozilla Planning Firefox Metro For Windows 8 On December 10

An anonymous reader writes "Mozilla is finally getting close to releasing a Metro version of its Firefox browser that will run on Windows RT as well as the tablet-side of Windows 8. The touch flavor of the app will arrive on December 10 along with Firefox 26. That's assuming, of course, that there won't be more delays. Given what we've seen so far, we wouldn't be surprised to see a final Metro version arrive in 2014."

Can they finish it before RT is canceled ?

[Anonymous Coward]

I can't wait to see if they can finish it before RT is canceled.

Wouldn't be the first time they denied and denied and then summarily canceled a project with no explaination.

Usually it starts with a section leadership change , or a Spring re-org.. then suddenly.. "We've decided to go in another direction.."

As for Metro.. what if like "SIlverlight" they decide to support that as an alternative user interface to the year 2133.. but no further updates will be forth coming.

Re:FF Rant 4726

[kthreadd]

I would probably give IE a chance, but I'll pass until they provide the source code under a free and open source license.

Re:what?!

[oo_00]

So what? Window 8.1 will have a start button that... still does not open start menu, but brings you back to shitty start screen. And will have option to run desktop by default, but NOTHING other will change about usability and start screen enforcement. And 8.1 will be even slower, but they will hide it behind hibernation (which sucks too). Really, what's the point in supporting such crap by making apps for it?

Re:what?!

[casab1anca]

Window 8.1 will have a start button that... still does not open start menu

This is getting old, but why exactly do you need the Start menu? Ever since Windows 7 came out, I've pinned my daily-use applications to the taskbar and that works 99% of the time. The remaining 1% of the time (when I need to find an app by name), I hit the Win key and start typing, and you can still do that in Windows 8. I agree they should have had boot-to-desktop right when Win8 was released, but anyway that's coming in 8.1 now.

And 8.1 will be even slower

Either you haven't used Windows 8 or you're trolling. Win8 has been noticeably faster than Win7 from the very first preview release, both on cold boot and resume from sleep (and no, sleep is not the same as hibernate).

Really, what's the point in supporting such crap by making apps for it?

Sure, Microsoft may have failed with their grand vision to unify tablets and desktops, but with boot-to-desktop, Win8 is flexible enough to make most people happy. Tablets can just use the Metro UI, desktop fanatics can just boot to desktop, and some others like me are perfectly happy staying in desktop mode most of the time yet switching to Metro occasionally.

Except there is no "Metro" now, MSFT changed name.

[Moskit]

Microsoft has changed UI name, seemingly due to trademark clash. It was even on /.
http://tech.slashdot.org/story/12/08/03/1221242/microsoft-drops-metro-name-for-windows-8-ui [slashdot.org]

Doorway amnesia

[tepples]

The remaining 1% of the time (when I need to find an app by name), I hit the Win key and start typing

The problem here is that while you're typing, the context of the currently open applications' windows disappears. It's like the effect of amnesia while going through a doorway [scientificamerican.com]. It'd be fine if the Start Screen were semi-transparent, but because it's opaque and full-screen, it forces a subconscious context switch. And that's why I still install Classic Shell, so that the search-by-name box doesn't distract me by covering everything.