Mozilla decides to drop support for Win 2K with Firefox 12

catilley1092

Extraordinary Member
Joined
Nov 19, 2010
Today, I upgraded my Firefox 11.0 to 12.0 on Windows 2000, & got a warning. That there will be no more support or updates for FF 12 on the OS. Users who wants updates must stick with FF 11 or lower. And that users should upgrade to Windows 7. Or if these users wants to keep a modern browser, switch to Opera. WTH is this from an open source corporation?

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To be honest, this came as a surprise to me. Mozilla has always been open source, based upon freedom of choice, & this has been their motto for years. Now they're in on the upgrade wagon along with Google. I expected it from Google, not Mozilla.

Fortunately, there are many more corporations that fully supports Windows 2000, ESET is one of them, allowing their flagship security, ESET Smart Security 5, to continue to run on the OS. This is good, because Win 2K has no built in firewall, like XP SP2 & above has. There are also many other software choices still available for the OS to keep it going, some free, some paid.

Although Windows 2000 users may indeed makes for only one half of one percent of Windows users (in the US), that still equates to a few million users. Not to mention in some Asian countries, the usage numbers are higher, surprisingly so in a very modern Japan. In that country, over 130,000 servers & 500,000 PC's in local governments are affected, many can't fund a replacement for the OS.

Windows 2000 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Win 2K users are still OK for now, but the long term future isn't looking good for the OS. Probably by the time that XP support ends, 2K will be dropped altogether, still that's almost 4 years after MS dumped the OS. At least MS wasn't trying to kill 2K the way they are XP right now (while in support), with nearly 2 years of support left.

As long as there's major AV/IS suites still supporting the OS, as well as MBAM Pro, it's still good & safe to use. After all, one is only safe as their security is, whether it's Windows 2000 or Windows 7.

Cat
 
I don't understand about the Firefox 12 upgrades (updates or whatever).The Firefox pattern for the past several months is that each update no matter how minor gets a new number. It seems to me that if you have 12 installed when Firefox revises it, the new designation will be Firefox 13. Those of us who are clinging to Windows 2000, each for our own reasons, just would not be able to update to 13 but would not need to back-up to 11. (I think 11 seems to be significantly more stable than 12 which is a very good reason not even to move to 12.) I get a lot of screen freezes with Firefox 12 that I didn't get with 11. I wish I could get Internet Explorer 6 to work smoothly in Windows 2000 because I don't like Firefox - any version any how!!!! Then I wouldn't have any more concern about Firefox than I do about Chrome or Opera or any of the other browsers. Now, Internet Explorer 9 lack of stability makes one look at Firefox 11 or 9 or 10, in a favorable way.

Ralph, I've been down the Linux potholed road a few times. I have Linux Mint on one computer now. Linux, whichever version you want to name, is still VERY MUCH - much too much - by Geeks, for Geeks and unless and until this attitude is dropped, Linux will never be anything more than a Geek Toy. Not that there is anything wrong with geeks having toys, just don't expect Johnny typical computer user to embrace them.

That's my story and I'm stickin' to it!
 
So far, Opera is still supporting Win 2K, so that may be an option for some users. Opera has it's version of AdBlock, which seems to be as good as Firefox's. I'd rather run a supported browser than an unsupported one, as well as have the latest, as long as I can get it. Another good thing about Opera, it has Opera Turbo, which makes the browser load faster on slow connections (but won't make downloading faster).

Firefox is now at version 13, as of yesterday. I've had issues with FF 12 myself, not just on Win 2K, but XP, Win 7, Win 8 CP & Ubuntu 12.04 (I'm well traveled). Shame that one has to run 2 versions behind just to have a usable browser, or one with less bugs.

As far as Linux goes, it's in the mindset. If one has the desire to learn Linux (Mint & Ubuntu are great choices), he/she can do so.

Cat
 
I used to use Firefox but I stopped using it after they made Firefox 4. As Firefox 4 and the later versions are not like Firefox 3.6.

So now I used Pale Moon 3.6 here-The Pale Moon Project homepage Which comes in two versions,3.6 based on Firefox 3.6 and Pale Moon 15 based on the current version of Firefox.

But there is also Safefox which you can download from C.Net here-SafeFox - CNET Download.com
Which I also have installed. Safefox is based on Firefox 3.5 and I am sure that both Pale Moon and Safefox work on Windows 2000. So I think you should try those.

And I have got Windows XP and Windows Vista,as well as Windows 7 and Windows 8. But I have never used Windows 2000. And I have not met anybody except my next door neighbour who has still got Windows 2000.

I think one of the main disadvantages in Windows 2000 is that you are stuck with IE6 which crashes on some websites and breaks easily. And you cannot upgrade from IE6 to IE7 or IE8 on Windows 2000. And also I don't think you can get updates from Windows because Windows 2000 is no longer supported. But I could be wrong about that. Andrea Borman.
 
WTH is this from an open source corporation?
Why does open source matter? If anything, I am surprised support for W2K has lasted this long. Open source works because there is a significant user base of users. But the W2K user base tiny at best. There is just no interest in putting resources towards it.
 
Ralph, I've been down the Linux potholed road a few times. I have Linux Mint on one computer now. Linux, whichever version you want to name, is still VERY MUCH - much too much - by Geeks, for Geeks and unless and until this attitude is dropped, Linux will never be anything more than a Geek Toy. Not that there is anything wrong with geeks having toys, just don't expect Johnny typical computer user to embrace them.

That's my story and I'm stickin' to it!

+++1.

I couldn't agree more. Too geeky.
Why in god's name do I have to open Terminal or whatever and enter a code just to install a program ?
I tried to install DropBox and Wine and that procedure turned me off. So, I cancelled the install.

What's wrong with the good old-fashioned installer?

Good thing that my Linux mint was installed in a VM. I can remove it in a flash.
 
While I agree with the above, I do note there are many who have very limited resources ($$$) and simply cannot afford to buy Windows, and have no desire to use illegal software. For those who simply need a computer to stay connected, Linux works.
 
While I agree with the above, I do note there are many who have very limited resources ($$$) and simply cannot afford to buy Windows, and have no desire to use illegal software. For those who simply need a computer to stay connected, Linux works.

How does one get a computer without pre-installed OS nowadays?
Unless one builds own computer, in which case, finance is not the reason for using Linus.
 
Be they open source or closed source, they still must act according to certain rules. And one major rule is, programs are perishable. They have a certain lifespan, but after that, it's done. Death is inevitable.
 
They have a certain lifespan, but after that, it's done. Death is inevitable.
From a security standpoint, it would be nice if that were true, and they die at the end of their lifespan - but they don't. And because they don't people keep using them - even through those same people know support has stopped, or will stop soon, and time will bring nothing but increased exposure to additional vulnerabilities, and the badguys who WILL exploit them.

I speak of XP. EVERYONE still using XP needs to stop using it before support stops next April - at least on those systems that have access to the Internet. Because once support stops, and new vulnerabilities are exploited, those systems become threats to the rest of us.

Responsible users (netizens) need to upgrade to a current OS and irresponsible users need to stay off the Internet. That's just the simple, but harsh truth of reality.
 
I couldn't agree more. Too geeky.
Why in god's name do I have to open Terminal or whatever and enter a code just to install a program ?
I tried to install DropBox and Wine and that procedure turned me off. So, I cancelled the install.

What's wrong with the good old-fashioned installer?

Good thing that my Linux mint was installed in a VM. I can remove it in a flash.

I have to disagree with this post completely. Most users use Linux boxes and never even know it, web servers. When it comes to a Linux and what it can do it is all dependent on the distrobution, it's not cookie cutter like Windows or M\ac OS. There are installers for Linux distrobutions, you just have to find a distrobution with one built in or install one. That is the ni
 
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