Fledgling search engine Ask Jeeves and the open source browser Mozilla have been in talks regarding a collaborative effort to co-brand a product. The three items on the agenda include the possibility of makingAsk Jeevesdesktop search an open source utility, developing an Ask Jeeves branded browser based on Firefox, and merging Mozilla's Extensible User Interface Language (XUL) withAsk Jeeves"Octopus" content aggregation tool. The third item is something that will be discussed further in the future with no concrete plans in place, butthe folks at Ask Jeeveshope that they can collaborate with Mozilla to achieve the other two sooner than later.

Ask Jeeves'plan for its desktop search technology is to allow access to the underlying API framework via Open Source while retaining control of the development roadmap. The idea of a branded, Firefox based browser is meant to help both companies. This follows hot on the heels of Google employing some of the talent behind Firefox and rumors of the search engine giant also considering a browser release (although Google refuses to confirm this).
Ask Jeeves' Senior Vice-President of Search Properties, Jim Lanzone, commented after the meeting that Mozilla was "open minded but noncommittal to the ideas." Mozilla itself did not comment other than to confirm that the meeting happened.