14 DAY TRIAL // Software companies are one by one giving up on Windows XP support for their products, and now it appears that it’s Mozilla’s turn to switch the focus to newer versions of Windows.
Firefox 53 will be the first version of the browser which will no longer support Windows XP and Windows Vista, so users who haven’t yet upgraded to Windows 7 or newer will have to either stick with Firefox 52 or move to a different browser.
Installation of the new version will be blocked on Windows XP when Firefox 53 launches in March 2017, but the good news is that Firefox 52 will be moved to the ESR (extended support release) branch, so it’ll continue getting patches until mid-2018.
No new features for XP after Firefox 52
As gHacks notes, Mozilla revealed its plans in a Bugzilla entry, explaining that Firefox 53 installers will no longer be compatible with Windows XP and Vista.
“We plan to eol XP/Vista by first moving those users out to ESR 52. Once 52 merges to aurora, we should land changes to the stand alone installer to prevent install by XP and Vista users. Initially there shouldn't be an issue with running but eventually we'll import a system dependency that will break browser startup,” the company said.
Mozilla also notes that there’s still no date for the end of support for Windows XP, but the firm acknowledges that it’s increasingly difficult to deliver new features on this platform, and this is the main reason it’s moving XP to the ESR branch.
As a result, only security fixes will be delivered to XP and Vista machines, while users who want to get all the new features available in the latest Firefox versions will have to upgrade to Windows 7 or newer.
In the meantime, however, Windows XP continues to be quite popular, with third-party statistics showing that it’s still running on approximately 9 percent of PCs across the world, even though end of support was announced in April 2014. Windows XP was launched in 2001.