Mozilla Firefox Redesign: Is New Internet Browser, Australis, A Wannabe Google Chrome?

Mozilla Vice President of Firefox engineering Jonathan Nightingale announced on Saturday that the internet browser will be redesigned and will be equipped with sleeker features that some say resemble those of Google Chrome.

Nightingale told TechCrunch that Mozilla's redesign, Australis, will give users more customization options while providing a cleaner template.

"Maybe we shouldn't even call it a browser anymore," Nightingale told TechCrunch.

"'Browser' is really an antiquated word. People don't really browse all that much anymore."

Although Mozilla seems confident that Australis will redefine the internet browsing industry because of its new features, many technology buffs believe the new browser is just emulating components from the company's biggest competitor, Google Chrome.

Rounded tab corners, drop-down customization menus and three-bar icons to the right of the URL are among some of the characteristics that Australis is expected to share with Google Chrome.

"At first glance, [Australis] looks a bit more like Chrome than the Firefox we know today," wrote technology blog Blackhat Tools after speaking with Nightingale.

"In its current iteration, the Australis theme features rounded corners for tabs and the same three-bar icon to the right of the URL and search boxes to bring up a drop-down customization and settings menu."

While an experimental version of Australis if available for download online, Mozilla is slated to release the final version of the web browser this October.

Developers will continue working on the browser to improve the visibility of customization options and the organization of tabs. Australis will also feature a new download manager.