Mozilla stops 'Metro' Windows 8 Firefox as interest has been "pretty flat"

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According to VB News, Mozilla is not continuing with its tablet-ready Windows 8 Firefox app, ending work on the "metro" version of Firefox because it does not draw enough interest.

The announcement last Friday means the firm officially ended its attempts at bringing Firefox to Windows 8 Metro, the touchscreen Windows 8 experience.

Since the team was built, and then tested and fine-tuned the product, they were watching the adoption-rate and it was flat, Firefox VP Johnathan Nightingale said in a blog post last week. Millions of people are testing the pre-release Firefox desktop version, but they never saw over 1,000 active users daily in the Metro.

Firefox in traditional desktop in Windows 8 still runs. What Mozilla killed is the touchscreen version meant for the Windows 8 app store.

Microsoft's vision of Windows 8 has been high, with its desperate need for a killer software in the app store; or at least apps that take advantage of the touchscreen focus in Windows 8. For example, Google has a mode called Windows 8 in its Chrome browser. Such mode shows a full-screen Windows 8 app.

Mozilla could have released the untested Firefox Metro app, but Nightingale points out that it is not how their company rolls. They release a product and maintain it through end of life. He added that if they need to pick a battle, the Metro project is a bad one to pick as it has low impact.

In the meantime, Mozilla keeps the Metro code, in case it can be revived again, if there will eventually be a bigger demand.

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