The Mozilla Foundation (mozilla.com), in partnership with Apple (apple.com), Macromedia (macromedia.com), Opera (opera.com) and Sun Microsystems (sun....

The Mozilla Foundation (mozilla.com), in partnership with Apple (apple.com), Macromedia (macromedia.com), Opera (opera.com) and Sun Microsystems (sun.com), today announced changes to its web browser plugins that provide web developers the ability to deliver enhanced web browsing experiences.

The new plugin technologies will be implemented in upcoming versions of the next generation Mozilla Firefox web browser and the Mozilla 1.x Internet suite and in plugins and browsers developed by the other companies that are supporting this initiative, amongst ohers.

The Mozilla Foundation, in collaboration with the aforementioned companies is working to extend the Netscape Plugin Application Program Interface (NPAPI) in a manner that allows greater interactivity with plugins such as Flash, Shockwave, QuickTime and Java, resulting in a richer, more interactive web.

"This initiative will significantly improve the web experience for users of Firefox, the Mozilla 1.x Internet suite, Safari, and Opera browsers and will ultimately benefit the overall health of the web," commented Mitchell Baker, President of the Mozilla Foundation. "Plugins are a critical component of the web experience and require ongoing enhancements and improvements in the way they integrate with world-class browsers. Without these improvements, enhanced interactivity could remain tied to a single, proprietary browser solution, which reduces choice and leads to monoculture on the web. This new initiative makes enhanced interactivity available without locking users in to a specific computing platform or web browser. This will allow users to choose among a range of browsers without sacrificing interactivity. The Mozilla Foundation is proud to provide leadership in this collaborative improvement of the web experience."

The new plugin API effort is a response to a long standing desire by plugin vendors to have their plugins work more seamlessly for all browsers and on all computing platforms, including Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X. The enhanced plugin API has been collaboratively developed to promote adoption by a broad set of browser and plugin vendors, and will be made available under an open source license.