14 DAY TRIAL // Apple fans still using the five-year-old Mac OS X 10.5 are being notified by Mozilla that Firefox 16 Final will mark the end of development for the Leopard operating system. That includes bugs and security updates.
Over at the Mozilla blog, Alex Keybl reports that “On November 20th, Firefox will end support for users operating Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard). After this date, users will stop receiving Firefox updates, including new features and security fixes.”
Keybl notes that Leopard users will require an upgrade to Snow Leopard (Mac OS X 10.6) if they wish to continue using the latest versions of Firefox. He also takes a minute to explain why.
“Mozilla bases changes in supported operating systems on population size and trends, vendor support, testing resources, and technical feasibility. Ending support for Leopard will free up resources for new Mac features like Native Full Screen support and new Mac accessibility tools,” writes Keybl.
Leopard users running Firefox will continue to see update prompts over the next month regarding the discontinuation of development on Mac OS X 10.5.
“Barring any major stability or security issues found over the next few weeks, Firefox 16.0 will be our last release to support 10.5,” Keybl confirms.
“After a five year run, it’s time for a big cat nap. Firefox support for Leopard ends on November 20th, 2012,” he concludes.
In related news, Google is also ending Leopard development for its Chrome web browser, the reasons being very similar that those of Mozilla’s:
“While we understand this is an inconvenience, we are making this change to ensure we can continue to deliver a safe, secure, and stable Chrome for the most Mac users possible,” the Chrome development team wrote in a blog post last month.
It seems Opera’s up next.