As per the information information released by Mozilla, the open source prodigy is all set to give a complete overhaul to one of its most prized creations, the Firefox internet browser. The all new visual and features upgrade is expected make Firefox look more like Google Chrome. Mozilla’s decision to give a complete facelift to Firefox is attributed the fact that, with Windows Vista and Windows 7, Firefox looks kind of out of place and doesn’t really match with the Aero style graphics crystal color pallets used in Windows Vista and Windows 7.

The proposed is known to be delivered in two parts. The first installment will include some minor changes, that might not even be noticeable to non-avid users of Firefox and will be rolled out in the form of Firefox 3.7 sometime in the beginning of the year 2010. The second installment is big gala opening that everyone is looking forward to. The overhauled Firefox will be released in the form of Firefox 4 and is is expected to be available for download in the latter half of the next year.

Some other unique changes that are expected to be rolled out with the Firefox 3.7 update is the introduction of the ‘tab-on-top’ feature, where the users are given the freedom to place their tabs at the top of the browser. If this indeed happens, the Firefox would look quite similar to Google Chrome. According to Mozilla, “We are not trying to make Firefox look like any other browser. Similarities between browsers are unavoidable. They all have shared lineage and are based off of their predecessors. The basics of what a browser does and how it does it is already established. Browsers are all trying to solve the same problems so evolutionary ideas that are similar are inevitable.”

Speaking his mind out on the topic of Firefox’s overhaul that might make it look exactly like Google Chrome, Mike Beltzner (Director, Firefox) said,

“I find that kind of talk very odd. UI [user interface] designers copy from each other all the time. Open source is a different model than traditional software development. It’s much more open and collaborative. There are now two vendors, Mozilla and Google, sometimes three if you count Apple, which uses the open-source WebKit, talking about what they’re doing in the open. That’s going to cause more cross-pollination.”

Via Computer World.