Microsoft's newest desktop operating system, Windows 8, will be available in just a few weeks, and that has sparkled Mozilla to release the first version of Firefox Metro for those who enjoy living on the edge using software that could bug out at any second.

The new Firefox preview has been optimized for Windows 8, which means the browser will play well with Windows 8 Metro design.

Installation Guide

First thing is first, download Firefox Metro preview to your system and get the ball a rolling by firing up the installer. Once all that is done, close Firefox if it is already open, then proceed to setting Internet Explorer as the default browser by taking a visit to the mighty Control Panel. You might want to restart your system to be on the safe side, though that is an optional task.

What steps to take next, you wonder? In desktop mode, fire up Firefox Metro preview and set the browser as the default when prompted to do so. Head over to Options>Advanced>General and set Firefox Metro preview as the default there as well. Switch over to the Metro user interface and give the new browser a test drive.

When in Use

Users will quickly realize how the tab styling looks quite similar to Internet Explorer 10, but that's not a bad thing. The browser has more features optimized for Metro when compared to the likes of Google Chrome, which is such a bad experience in the Metro environment, not recommended for use in its current state.

Not everything works properly here. For example, Firefox Sync doesn't always work, and Flash implementation in the browser is a hit and miss at times. Still, one should bare in mind that this is an alpha preview of a very buggy software that won't be stable for a long time to come. Although, there are some features that were pleasing to use, features like Metro touch and swipe gestures works pretty well.

Download Firefox Metro preview for the purpose of testing, you do not want to chance using it on a regular basis.