Mozilla Firefox ends support for Windows XP and Windows Vista in 2018

Yes, it’s finally come to this. Windows XP is arguably the most popular Windows operating system that had a run for nearly two decades. Even today, I see small enterprises and educational institutions use Windows XP. In the meanwhile, the Windows Vista had its fair share of trouble and was dismissed for good. The news here is that Mozilla has decided to end support for Windows XP and Vista starting from June 2018.

Next year Firefox will reach the ‘end of life’ (EOL) on the Windows XP and the Windows Vista. On an interesting note, both the operating systems themselves are nearing the end of life. However, earlier the older operating systems were put into Extended Support Release last year and the expiry, in this case, was September 2017. This time around the company has confirmed that the ESR will be the last and Mozilla will finally pull the plugs on its browser for both the operating systems.

“As one of the few browsers that continue to support Windows XP and Vista, Firefox users on these platforms can expect security updates until [June 2018]. Users do not need to take additional action to receive those updates.”- Mozilla announced.

We think that the nine-month warning is fair enough and this should ideally compel the users to upgrade to a latest Windows version. Unsupported operating systems are vulnerable to all kind of threats be it from the malware or other exploits. The worst part, however, is that Microsoft will not be issuing patches and security fixes. That being said Mozilla has also pulled the plug on other operating systems as well, so Windows is no exception.

In the meanwhile, Mozilla is arming itself with the Firefox Quantum which uses a new CSS which according to the company makes the new browser twice as fast as its predecessor. The Firefox Quantum has also garnered rave reviews and perhaps will help people switch back to Firefox.

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