Mozilla Is Aligning With Microsoft With Support For XP and Vista In 2017

 

  According to Mozilla the popular Firefox web browser will undergo definitive changes regarding how it is supported with both Windows XP and Windows Vista in 2017. This probably should not be any surprise whereas both Microsoft and Google have already implemented similar actions regarding their own browsers, Internet Explorer and Chrome respectively. Although users will be updated to version 52 (The Extended Support Release) in March 2017, Mozilla has indicated that support for Firefox users on Windows XP and Vista will end later in 2017.

 

 

Why is Mozilla Ending Support For Firefox On Windows XP and Vista?

 

  It's not complicated however supporting a browser on an Operating System which is no longer supported by its manufacturer is complicated. It is clear that Windows XP is still in use but the number of users has been in decline since Microsoft ended support for it in April 2014 and Vista is reportedly only running on slightly more than 1% of PCs. These facts lead Mozilla to state that "Unsupported operating systems receive no security updates, have known exploits, and can be dangerous to use, which makes it difficult to maintain Firefox on those versions." and it does make sense. Mozilla is reassuring users that they will receive security updates for Firefox through September 2017 on these Operating Systems but new features and/or other enhancements would not be included. They recommend upgrading to a newer Operating System such as Windows 7, Windows 8 (8.1 please) or Windows 10 if any new features are desired but this likely would mean upgrading to a new computer for most users due to the likely age of the machinery.

 

  Read more about Mozilla's Firefox Announcement.

 

 

Microsoft Will End Support For Windows Vista On April 11, 2017

 

  Windows Vista was never a very popular Operating System and although it really wasn't all that bad it just never took flight as Windows XP or Windows 7 did. Nevertheless even where the End of Sales for Vista was exactly a year after the End of Sales for XP support will still last roughly 10 years. On April 11 this year support for the Windows Vista Operating System from Microsoft will end and it won't be long after when safely browsing the Internet on XP or Vista will also no longer be supported. These are just the facts and although there may be Antivirus and Malware protection still supported there remains the question: Will that be enough? The year 2017 is likely to be one in which many people make hard decisions regarding their computing environments and whether it will be necessary to say goodbye to Windows XP and Windows Vista.

 

  Although last updated a year ago in January 2016, here's the Windows Lifecycle Fact Sheet.

 

 

 

Tags: Mozilla, Firefox,

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