Mozilla will no longer release security updates for Firefox on Windows XP and Windows Vista starting September next year. The change should impact about 10% of the Firefox users, according to the open source developer
Firefox is currently one of the few browsers that still supports the outdated Windows versions. However, support will gradually disappear next year. In March all Firefox users on Windows XP and Vista will be automatically upgraded/moved to a Firefox Extended Support Release (ESR). The ESR version of Firefox only receives security updates and is mainly targeted at large organizations such as universities and other schools, county or city governments and businesses.
Windows XP and Vista users will receive another warning in mid-2017 that will inform them again that support will end and by September 2017, Mozilla expects to pull the plug on support for both Windows versions. The company writes, "in mid-2017, user numbers on Windows XP and Vista will be reassessed and a final support end date will be announced."
"For planning purposes, enterprises using Firefox should consider September 2017 as the support end date for Windows XP and Vista," the company adds.
Mozilla advises users to upgrade to a newer Windows version and warns that Windows versions that are no longer supported by Microsoft are a significant security threat.
Recently Mozilla published the Firefox Hardware Report that showed that 10% of all Firefox users was still running on Windows XP. The operating system isn't supported by Microsoft since April 2014, which means it hasn't received security updates since that date, making it vulnerable to all kinds of attacks. Support for Windows Vista will be ended in April 2017.
Google ended support for running its Chrome browser on Windows XP and Vista earlier this year. Currently only Opera is the only major browser vendor that has stated it will continue to support both operating systems.
