Firefox Select Sustainable And Give Security Improvements In Windows 7 And 8 Old Until 2024

Firefox decided to continue to support Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 (photo: dock. mozilla)

JAKARTA - Firefox has finally decided to continue to support Microsoft's Operations System (OS), Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 at least until 2024.

Initially, the Mozilla Foundation was considering stopping the browser at the now-dead OS in August 2023, but the plan was later revised which would give users more time.

The announcement came in retaliation by Mozilla employee Mike Kaply on the Mozilla bug tracking site, Bugzilla. He emphasized that Firefox 115 Extended Support Release (ESR) which arrived on July 4, 2023 will still support Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 8.1.

Firefox ESR is a stable release from Mozilla-backed open-source browser for a long period of time compared to regular releases, or fast releases that come out every month.

During its one-year support cycle, each version of Firefox's ESR only gets additional updates that contain security fixes without new features or performance improvements.

In addition, the browser will also receive updates and security improvements until at least the third quarter (Q3) of 2024. However, the development team has not set a specific date to stop supporting Firefox in the outdated operating system.

"We will not end support for Windows 7/Windows 8 before the release of Firefox 115 ESR, so Firefox 115 ESR will support Windows 7/Windows 8 at least until 3Q 2024," Kaply said.

The company's decision is not without reason. According to the Firefox Public Data Report, Windows 7 still provides a fairly large portion of the total user base (13.44 percent).

While Windows 10 is a leading platform with 71 percent of users, and Windows 8.1 is still used by 2.3 percent of Firefox users, as quoted by TechSpot, Thursday, March 30.

Unlike Mozilla, Google and Microsoft have ended Chrome and Edge support on Windows 7 and 8.1 in advance.