firefox to drop suport for all m.s. os's older than xp sp3

[minidv2dvd]

not very nice for the browser that used to support just about every viable operating system.

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9131576

when will the drop xp sp3? the following year?

[Jim44]

Well, it's "considering" it.

And, reading further, it would be for any new browser with the new, upcoming Gecko engine. You could still run an old browser on the old operating systems.

*shrug* seems like a non-issue, support for old OS falls away eventually on every product. And I say this as an XP-SP3 user (and FF user), so I'm technically using an "old" OS.

[Krispy Kritter]

Considering you should be keeping your XP up to date anyway, I don't see that this is an issue.

[Midzuki]

Hopefully the K-Meleon team will keep focusing on "effective functionality",
instead of "lazy development strategies" To my eyes, Firefox has always
seemed as annoying as the first official release of Netscape 6.


%%%

[filmboss80]

Eh, there's always Opera.

[jman98]

It may just be too much work to keep up with Win2K and XP prior to SP3. Microsoft has stopped supporting those. Microsoft is even trying to get out of supporting XP altogether. Newer versions of Firefox may work in Win2K or older XP, it's just that they won't be tested and if you find any bugs, they aren't likely to get fixed.

[minidv2dvd]

microsoft has stopped support for XP. this was the last month of anything but "critical" fixes. no more directX, .NET, WMP, WMM, silverlight, driver support, etc., etc.

if you want anything from the optional software at m.s. update, get it soon....

[blinky88]

I have SP2 and use Firefox .... do not want to go SP3, happy with SP2. What will I do .... get another browser.

[MOVIEGEEK]

microsoft has stopped support for XP. this was the last month of anything but "critical" fixes. no more directX, .NET, WMP, WMM, silverlight, driver support, etc., etc.

if you want anything from the optional software at m.s. update, get it soon....

That's not true,the are only dropping free tech support.They will still be issuing optional and critical updates until 2014.
As for Firefox...you can always go back to IE6. :P

[minidv2dvd]

microsoft has stopped support for XP. this was the last month of anything but "critical" fixes. no more directX, .NET, WMP, WMM, silverlight, driver support, etc., etc.

if you want anything from the optional software at m.s. update, get it soon....

That's not true,the are only dropping free support.They will still be issuing optional and critical updates until 2014.
As for Firefox...you can always use IE8.

i get you, only paid help no calling for free help with problems.

as of july 2010 it will only be for xp sp3, no updates at all for anything older.

Microsoft Corp. will end all support for Windows 2000 and Windows XP Service Pack 2 on July 13, 2010, and has already ended support for Windows XP and XP SP1. After that July 2010 date, Microsoft will only support Windows XP SP3

[Seeker47]

microsoft has stopped support for XP. this was the last month of anything but "critical" fixes. no more directX, .NET, WMP, WMM, silverlight, driver support, etc., etc.

if you want anything from the optional software at m.s. update, get it soon....

I'm still running W2K Pro, and I continue to get regular updates from MS. Some months, there are 5 - 7 of them. How do you explain that ? [Update: looks like you did in your follow-up post.] Anyway, W2K is years older than XP. Its demise has been warned about for years, but does not seem to have come true yet. I thought the final date on XP was already pushed back once, so who's to say it won't be again ? But the announced dates aren't going to alter my plans, in any case.

[rallynavvie]

Just because the software says it isn't supported on an older OS doesn't mean it won't work on an older OS.

[Ai Haibara]

Well... Firefox 3 and higher won't work on Win9X/ME, certainly. But that's no big issue for me - I do have XP and Vista systems, and FF2 still works just fine if I ever have to use it while on the Win9X towers.

[JohnnyBob]

I've got XP SP3 so guess I don't have to worry.
I normally use IE6 and keep firefox for special occasions. For example firefox is better for webpage printouts, cuz sometimes IE cuts off the sides of the page.

[DereX888]

One can always use K-Meleon browser. It is always built on exactly same latest Gecko engine as Firebloat is (yet it is much "lighter" hence it is perfect for any older computers using older Msoft OS versions, as well as latest Vistas... not to mention that K-Meleon is still the *only* web browser out there that does NOT have *ANY* security holes )

[Ai Haibara]

Wasn't there talk about newer (upcoming) versions of K-Meleon not working on Win9X/ME, especially if they switch to newer versions of the Gecko/etc. libraries? Can't remember if the CCE version works on 9X/ME, either.

Tried K-Meleon for a while, myself, but a toolbar corruption problem I encountered at least twice annoyed me, along with the slightly more difficult way of installing 'extensions,' and having to flip through so many 'pages' with the bookmark dropdown...

[lordsmurf]

My systems could lock up on SP3, and I don't have a need for it on all of them.

[AlanHK]

Considering you should be keeping your XP up to date anyway, I don't see that this is an issue.

If you're running Win2k, it is.
Anyway, this is at least a year away, and I suspect there will be workarounds.
And there's always Opera, which still works on Win95.