Firefox Metro hits Windows 8 with a very early, very buggy beta

Meet the new Firefox, more Metro-y than the old Firefox.

Microsoft may have told app developers “Don’t call it Metro,” but the latest version of Mozilla’s browser for Windows 8 is called the “Firefox Metro Preview.” The name is fitting in all senses.

It’s fitting because Mozilla has adopted the used-to-be-called-Metro design style with an attractive overhaul of the browser’s user interface. This is something Google did not do with Chrome. While there is a version of Chrome for Metro, it looks almost exactly like the desktop version, for better or worse.

The name “Firefox Metro Preview” is also fitting because “preview,” if anything, is a polite word for this early state of the application. While both Microsoft and Google have Metro-style browsers in functional shape, Mozilla’s current schedule will keep the Metro version of its browser in beta for some time after the Windows 8 release on Oct. 26.

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