See? Microsoft has open source lab???

----- Forwarded Message ----
From: ICT of Bangladesh <ict_of_bangladesh@yahoo.com>
To: ict_of_bangladesh@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Tuesday, August 29, 2006 12:08:06 PM
Subject: [ict_of_bangladesh] Mozilla Accepts Microsoft's Offer Of Help

Mozilla Corp. has accepted Microsoft's recent offer for help in
getting the Firefox browser and Thunderbird e-mail client to run
properly under Windows Vista.

According to a reply posted this week to the Mozilla developers forum
by Mozilla spokesman Chris Beltzner, "for the record, yes, we'd
definitely be interested in some 1:1 support. The facility and
program that you describe should really help to ensure that we get
the proper integration issues looked at for Firefox 2 and Thunderbird
2."

A week ago, the head of Microsoft's open-source lab invited Mozilla
developers to Microsoft's Redmond, Wash. campus for a four-day work
session with the company's Vista engineers.

"We have, of course, been testing on Vista, and Rob Strong has done
some work with Ed Averett to ensure that we take advantage of the
new 'Default Program' infrastructure, " Beltzner went on in his
message.

Default Program is a Vista feature that provides a single interface
where users decide which software does what job, such as playing
music files or browsing the Web. It's meant to replace the settings
scattered inside applications, like the "default browser" option
within Firefox and Microsoft's own Internet Explorer.

Beltzner ticked off several areas where Mozilla could use some help,
including how Vista's new application security mode will affect
Firefox and Thunderbird, integrating with Vista's common RSS data
storage, and tying in with the built-in Vista calendar and address
book.

He also offered Microsoft a piece of advice. "Something like a
checklist of the most common OS integration points that have changed
from Windows XP would be extremely useful, and would also be
accessible to organizations that can't afford to send people to
Redmond," Beltzner concluded.

Microsoft and Mozilla compete in the browser space, and to a lesser
degree, on the e-mail front. Mozilla's Firefox has grabbed about 15
percent of the global browser usage share since its debut in 2004;
most of that was at the expense of Microsoft's Internet Explorer,
which has seen its share fall to under 80 percent from a high in the
mid-to-upper 90s.

Both Microsoft and Mozilla are working on the next generation of
their browser. On Wednesday, IE 7 for Windows XP went into Release
Candidate 1 (RC1), while Firefox 2.0 is slated to head into Beta 2
next week.