Mozilla has accepted Microsoft's offer for the two competitors to work together to ensure Mozilla's Firefox web browser and Thunderbird email suite work more seamlessly on Redmond's upcoming Windows Vista operating system (OS).

Sam Ramji, director of Microsoft's Open Source Software Lab, had posted an invitation to a Mozilla development newsgroup website, saying his company had decided to include open source developers in upcoming programs.

Mike Beltzner, Mozilla phenomenologist, then posted a reply saying Mozilla and Microsoft developers are already communicating with each other.

"I think we're already in discussion with someone on your team about this, but for the record: yes, we'd definitely be interested in getting some one-on-one support," he wrote. "We have, of course, been testing on Vista and (developers have been working together) to ensure that we take advantage of the new ‘default program' infrastructure."

A Mozilla spokeswoman referred to the posting today when asked for comment.

Mozilla, praised for expanded security measures and pop-up blocking, now occupies up to 15 percent of the web browser market, according to some studies.

Send via e-mail | Submit to Digg | Add to Live Favorites