Firefox 52 Is The Last Version of Firefox For Windows XP and Vista (mspoweruser.com)

Mozilla has confirmed that Firefox 52, the new version of its browser it made available earlier this week, will be the last major version to support two legacy operating systems - Windows XP and Windows Vista. The company said future versions will require Windows users to be on a machine that has at a minimum Windows 7 running on it.

Comments

Why drop Vista?

[drinkypoo]

Not that I have any Vista machines any more, but why drop Vista support? What's available on 7 but not Vista, API-wise?

Re:Why drop Vista?

[Calydor]

Users.

Re:Why drop Vista?

[H0p313ss]

Sometimes dropping support is not because it won't work, but because the cost/benefit ratio of testing to guarantee it will work is not worth the effort.

Pertinent facts:
    Vista represents less than 1% of the market, we're talking 3 to 4 times less than linux
    Vista exited mainstream support FIVE YEARS AGO
    Vista extended support expires this week

At some point you just stop beating the dead horse.

Re:Why drop Vista?

[H0p313ss]

I kind of love that Microsoft's expiry notice basically says if you're still running Vista you should probably buy a new computer.

Re:Why drop Vista?

[dryeo]

I was following the discussion on mozilla.dev.platform when the decision was made. It actually is an API problem of which I forget the specifics, it might have even been wanting to update the compiler. Google made the same decision when they dropped support for XP and Vista.
Mozilla is/was also considering maintaining 52ESR support for longer then the usual 16 months depending on how many XP users are left next year.

Re:Why drop Vista?

[Ramze]

Win 10 runs even better than Vista did on the old hardware -- due in part to streamlining the OS to fit on low-resource PCs to compete with tablets and Chromebooks. Win 10 loads things more intelligently, uses RAM compression, and tries to only load one copy of a cached shared library instead of multiples - one for each app using them. If it weren't for the spyware, adware, and cost, It'd be a decent OS.

I put Ubuntu on our 8 year old Vista machine, but only because it wasn't worth purchasing a Win 10 license.

Re: Why drop Vista?

[cyber-vandal]

Yeah let's pay Microsoft another $100 for something that should've been free with an apology for Vista.

The last real version of Firefox

[Anonymous Coward]

This will be the last ESR that supports proper extensions, proper operating systems and proper plugins. We need to set up a new browser foundation that will continue updating this browser for real users and not Chrome drones.

Re:The last real version of Firefox

[sgage]

I think you are talking about the Pale Moon project. They claim to have no intention of dropping old-school NPAPI plugins and whatnot.

This is actually great news for XP/Vista users!

[ToTheStars]

Those of us with XP and Vista machines get the last laugh -- it means we get to keep using our favorite addons, like Classic Theme Restorer, NoScript, and AdBlock Plus (or uBlock Origin), while the rest of you get left out in the cold come November. Thanks, MozColonSlashSlashA!

Re:This is actually great news for XP/Vista users!

[iggymanz]

shitty bloated sites built under the direction of marketing wanks and sales shitheads, linking in multiple "partners" full of spyware and malware won't work, correct.

waterfox 64 bit with java and other plugins

[Joe_Dragon]

waterfox 64 bit with java and other plugins