Mozilla Firefox Drops The Other Shoe

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Rather than post this in all the Windows forums, I just thought I’d post it here:

“Firefox version 115 will be the last supported Firefox version for users of Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 8.1. If you are using these versions of Windows you will be moved to the Firefox Extended Support Release (ESR) channel by an application update. Mozilla will provide security updates for these users until September 2024. No security updates will be provided after that date. ”

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/firefox-users-windows-7-8-and-81-moving-extended-support

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There’s a lot of the standard hand-wringing about security and vulnerable, obsolete old systems, and all the trouble and money it’s going to cost them (the standard rap.) I just wonder about the $$ connections between MSFT and Mozilla these days, if any. Have to look into that sometime, especially since their recommendation is “Upgrade your OS!”

Got to get back to my Linux studies… 😉

P.S. Also, when that conversion to FF ESR update comes down the pipe, create a system restore point AND do a backup beforehand! FF has been noted in the past for really wrecking systems with buggy “Updates”.

[Moderator edit] link updated

Win7 Pro SP1 64-bit, Dell Latitude E6330, Intel CORE i5 "Ivy Bridge", 12GB RAM, Group "0Patch", Multiple Air-Gapped backup drives in different locations. Linux Mint Greenhorn
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"The more kinks you put in the plumbing, the easier it is to stop up the pipes." -Scotty

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Steve, Charlie, Cybertooth, SB9K, opti1

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Mozilla is doing what they’ve always done – hanging on a bit longer than the other browsers. Chrome dropped Windows 7 support months ago, and it was the same story with XP and Vista – Firefox kept supporting those for over a year longer.

Nibbled To Death By Ducks wrote:

FF has been noted in the past for really wrecking systems with buggy “Updates”.

I’d like to read about those as I’m curious to work out how I’ve managed to avoid anything of the sort. I’ve used Firefox since 1.0 across more than a half dozen Windows releases, a couple of mac OSes, and some flavors of Linux too and have never had a browser update wreck the operating system or the browser itself.

Don’t mistake this for blind trust though. I still do backups. 😉

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Sky

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Nibbled To Death By Ducks wrote:

I just wonder about the $$ connections between MSFT and Mozilla these days, if any. Have to look into that sometime, especially since their recommendation is “Upgrade your OS!”

I sincerely doubt that the standard, boilerplate exhortation to move on from using old, unsupported and potentially vulnerable versions of Windows is indicative of a financial connection.

 

1 user thanked author for this post.

Sky

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Nibbled To Death By Ducks wrote:

Rather than post this in all the Windows forums, I just thought I’d post it here:

“Firefox version 115 will be the last supported Firefox version for users of Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 8.1. If you are using these versions of Windows you will be moved to the Firefox Extended Support Release (ESR) channel by an application update. Mozilla will provide security updates for these users until September 2024. No security updates will be provided after that date. ”

As fewer and fewer people use Windows 7, support for Windows 7 software packages will diminish and that reduction will exist for all software packages.

On permanent hiatus {with backup and coffee}
offline▸ Win10Pro 2004.19041.572 x64 i3-3220 RAM8GB HDD Firefox83.0b3 WindowsDefender
offline▸ Acer TravelMate P215-52 RAM8GB Win11Pro 22H2.22621.1265 x64 i5-10210U SSD Firefox106.0 MicrosoftDefender
online▸ Win11Pro 22H2.22621.1992 x64 i5-9400 RAM16GB HDD Firefox116.0b3 MicrosoftDefender

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Sky

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This topic has also been discussed in “https://www.askwoody.com/forums/topic/a-new-chapter-for-waterfox/”

As I mentioned there, I was bounced from Fx portable to ESR. Nothing on my trusty Win7x64 Lenovo Thinkstation S20 got broken.

As I also mentioned, I’ve decided (again) to dump Fx. The first time was due to Australis. At that point my default browser became Pale Moon, which I still really like.

Over time, though, Pale Moon has decided to maintain a conservative course in regard to scripting, which for me means that several sites that I use frequently don’t work. As a a result, Waterfox has become my default browser.

I still use Pale Moon when I don’t need extended script functionality and, when the going really gets tough, I use Brave. I’m not quite sure why, but I guess the latter’s proximity to Chrome helps it “get the job done” when both Pale Moon and Waterfox choke.

I guess this is also the reason why Brave (in my opinion) looks so creepy. On a final note, as far as I know, it’s far less inquisitive than Chrome.

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Your link throws a 404 error, at least for me. You need to remove the ampersand toward the end of the link.

(I tried a previous post with just that bit from the last / to the end but it didn’t post. Maybe those characters caused it to be blocked…?)

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opti1 wrote:

Your link throws a 404 error, at least for me. You need to remove the ampersand toward the end of the link.

(I tried a previous post with just that bit from the last / to the end but it didn’t post. Maybe those characters caused it to be blocked…?)

I’m not quite sure to whom your comment is addressed, but the link in my last post is https://www.askwoody.com/forums/topic/a-new-chapter-for-waterfox/ .

I don’t see where it contains an ampersand, and it works fine for me on both Win 7×64 and Win10x64.

If you’re not using a Windoze computer, I’m sorry, but I can’t help you.

In the future, it might be helpful if you identifiy the person you’re addressing more specifically – or quote the posting on which you’re commenting.

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Nibbled To Death By Ducks wrote:

[Moderator edit] link updated

@opti1 was referring to the link in the initial thread post now rectified.

If debian is good enough for NASA...

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Cybertooth

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