On February 1, 2007

Jan 10, 2007 09:38 GMT  ·  By

Although Mozilla has added support for Windows Vista with the release of Firefox Firefox 2.0.0.1 on December 19, 2006, the two products are still far from seamless integration, to say the least. In fact, according to Mozilla's own description of the Firefox 2.0.0.1 update "Windows Vista Support: Windows Vista is generally supported" but for a few caveats.

The most relevant issue is the fact that Firefox 2.0 could not be installed as the default browser in Windows Vista. Mozilla has delivered a fix for this problem, but the feedback does not look promising for a resolve provided on 2007-01-05.

Additional caveats are related to the software updates for the browser if Firefox 2.0 is installed in a non-default location. Also, users have to agree to the execution of an updater.exe file following the download of an update for it to install. Moreover, Mozilla reported that Firefox has experienced problems with the latest version of the Adobe Acrobat Reader plug in.

"When installing as a restricted-access user on a shared machine into a location that you can write to, there may still be negative side effects (default browser/other keys not being set correctly). When installing as a restricted access user do not attempt to install over an existing installation in a restricted-access/shared location as this may destroy that installation," added Mozilla.

Consequently, Mozilla will prepare an update for its open source browser that is referred to as Firefox 2.0.0.x. "We are continuing focused Vista testing for 2.0.0.x. We organized a corp of community testers that is really helping out!" revealed Mozilla. The Firefox 2.0.0.x update is scheduled for availability on Thursday 1 in February 1007, following the general availability of Windows Vista.