There is some good news for Firefox ESR 115 users on older operating systems. Mozilla has extended support for the version until March 2026.
Note: ESR refers to Extended Support Release.
Mozilla released Firefox 115 in July 2023. Then, it had announced that Firefox 115.0 ESR would be the last version that supports Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1, as well as Apple macOS 10.12, 10.13, and 10.14. This version was originally intended to be supported until September 2024.
In September 2024, Firefox ESR 128 replaced 115 as the new code base for current operating systems. However, Mozilla extended Firefox 115 ESR support for users on Windows 7, 8, 8.1 until April 1, 2025. But in February 2025, Mozilla once again extended support for Firefox ESR 115 branch until September 2025.
You guessed it, the same thing has happened, another 6-month extension. Redditors have spotted a note on Firefox's release calendar says that Mozilla has decided to extend support for Firefox ESR 115 only on Windows 7, 8, 8.1 and macOS 10.12 to 10.14 up to March 2026. Mozilla will re-evaluate the situation in February 2026, to decide whether to end support for Firefox 115 ESR.
Why does Mozilla keep extending support for these old operating systems? The latest Firefox Public Data Report reveals that 39.352% Firefox users are on Windows 11, and 38.926% are using Windows 10. 6.769% of Firefox users are still on Windows 7. All other operating systems, including Linux and macOS have amount to 14.952% of Firefox users. Well, that probably explains why Windows 7 is still supported by Firefox, and of course by extension, Windows 8, 8.1 as well.
Mozilla recommends users on supported operating systems to use Firefox ESR 128 or above.
We do not recommend using older operating systems that do not get security updates anymore. If you have no other choice, i.e. if you cannot upgrade to a newer operating system due to hardware limitations, it's understandable but extremely risky. I strongly suggest looking at Linux distros like Mint, it may take some getting used to switch from Windows or macOS, but it's possible that your old computer will be able to handle Linux just fine.
Thank you for being a Ghacks reader. The post Mozilla extends Firefox ESR 115 support for Windows 7, 8 and 8.1, macOS 10.12 to 10.14 until March 2026 appeared first on gHacks Technology News.
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