Mozilla has announced a new special release of Firefox that integrates Microsoft’s Bing search engine into the open source browser. The special Firefox build, dubbed Firefox with Bing, makes Bing the default search provider in both the search bar and Awesome bar, and makes Bing.com the default homepage.

If you’d like to try Firefox with Bing, head on over to the new firefoxwithbing.com and download a copy. If you’re already using the standard version of Firefox the site will instead offer to install the Bing Search for Firefox add-on, giving you the same Bing features without downloading a new browser.

Not a fan of Bing? There’s no need to panic, Mozilla isn’t replacing Google with Bing in the official version of Firefox. Rather Firefox with Bing is part of Mozilla’s growing number of partnerships designed to tailor Firefox to niche markets. Similar special releases exist for Twitter, Yahoo and others.

Of course there’s always the possibility that Mozilla’s partnership with Microsoft will grow into something more. Some news sites have been speculating that Firefox with Bing is a sign of things to come when Mozilla’s contract with Google ends in November. It’s certainly a possibility, but given Google’s contribution to Mozilla’s bottom line it seems unlikely that Mozilla will walk away from its Google deal any time soon.

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