The project to get Firefox support into the Second Life client has been in the works for quite a while. Callum has been working hard to resolve some bugs which have prevented us from going forward with the project. The worst problems are significant, and we need some help to get them resolved.
Thanks to some late-night work by Callum, there now exists a standalone app which uses OpenGL to render web pages. This is the same wrapper that we will use in Second Life to support Firefox. It has lots of cool features, but still can't deal with plugins or interact with Flash programs. Therefore, we are making this app public and have posted a bounty for the developer(s) who can resolve our outstanding bugs.
Callum has just sent this information to interested parties:
"uBrowser is an simple Web Browser that illustrates one way of embedding the Mozilla® Gecko rendering engine into a standalone application using the LibXUL framework. The contents of the page is grabbed as it's being rendered and displayed as a texture on geometry using OpenGL™. You are able to interact with the page (mostly) normally and visit (almost) any site that works correctly with Firefox® 1.5. It's the by-product of some
work I'm doing here at Linden Lab (http://lindenlab.com) to enable an embedded browser in our Second Life (http://secondlife.com) software. There are only a few remaining show stoppers, such as control inputs through plugins, that remain to be fixed. We hope that with the help of the open source community and Second Life's residents, we'll be able to
rapidly resolve these bugs. Source code, executable and build instructions are available at http://ubrowser.com"
Cory posted the following on his blog at http://secondlife.blogs.com/prompt/
"Firefox, uBrowser, and You
Check out uBrowser. Trust me.
More importantly, download the source and checkout the bug page. There are only a few remaining show stoppers, but they're tricky. The biggest is the fact that we don't properly handle control inputs in plugins, like Flash. So, think you can fix it? If you do, I'll give you a private island in Second Life, including both the up-front cost and the monthly dues for one year. Note that the solution must work on Windows, Mac, and Linux -- or, if we've fixed it on one or more platforms, on the platforms that are still unsolved. I'll post updates here as we move along. For two other bugs -- creating new windows and feedback dialogs -- I'll reward the intrepid coder behind the solution with the ability to create a new last name within Second Life -- with the expected restrictions that the last name must pass the Community Standards and subject to the approval of the Customer Service Team.
So, go play with uBrowser and help us to help you!"