Redmond Beckons: Microsoft Invites Mozilla to Work With Vista

Despite their competition with one another in the world of web browsers, Microsoft has reportedly invited the folks from Mozilla to its headquarters in Redmond, Washington for an information session designed to make Firefox (and other software products) more compatible with Vista.

Like any operating system (OS), Vista will be successful or unsuccessful depending on the software it can run problem-free. Although Mozilla and Microsoft provide a fierce rivalry for one another with Firefox and Internet Explorer, respectively, the Redmond-based company clearly realizes that more people will purchase its upcoming Vista OS if the highly-anticipated Firefox 2.0 is compatible. That's why they've initiated weekly labs for developers like Mozilla, in order to ensure that there won't be programming conflicts when Vista launches in the new year. (Source: betanews.com)

The labs are part of Microsoft's concern over its first version of Vista. It would prefer to see a massively popular launch with very few problems, preventing consumers from waiting until a newer version of Vista is released, or worse yet, simply checking out the competition.

Firefox is not the only application Microsoft is interested in. It has also invited Mozilla for the purpose of making sure Thunderbird is equally compatible with its upcoming OS. (Source: microsoft-watch.com)

The weekly labs will continue to take place with a number of developers, like Mozilla, during four-day sessions until sometime in December. Microsoft calls the meetings its Windows Vista Readiness ISV lab, and hopes the program will repair recent controversy over its name and criticism of its products.

Of course, the final answer to this question will come in January, when Vista is set to launch. It might also come in the next few weeks, depending on whether the selected Mozilla team ever returns from Redmond.

Just kidding. Sort of.