Since most of Lemmy users are Linux fans, this headline sounds nice but is a bit misleading if you read the original post from Mozilla:
How can I get the newest features of Firefox?
If you want to keep your Firefox up to date, with all the latest features and security updates, you need to upgrade your operating system to Windows 10 or higher. In some cases, Microsoft may require newer hardware in order to support the newer operating system. After upgrading, you can easily reinstall Firefox and keep all of your settings.
Or, if your current hardware can’t handle Windows 10 or higher for some reason, you can switch to a Linux-based operating system. The vast majority of Linux distributions come with Firefox as the default browser. Please see the support websites for the version of Linux that you’re interested in.
sounds nice but is a bit misleading
To me it even sounds kind of scary. If they are telling users you need to switch your OS to continue using our app, that is going to isolate users and further decrease user base and market share. And apps that no one uses usually die. So for people who like Firefox, it doesn’t sound so nice. I’m also a Linux user, but I’m not sure if this is a positive way to drive users to Linux. (Thought it does mention windows 10 upgrade hardware requirement limitations, which might be a positive way to drive users to Linux, thanks Microsoft.)
What a bad take.
Are you really asking Mozilla to restart supporting Windows XP as well because the web browser is used for some embedded application, too?And so what?
If the user liked Firefox, they will need to switch the OS anyway. Doesnt matter if Apple, MS or Linux. Firefox is present in all them.man I’m facing either needing to get a new pc in THIS market to use 10, or find an entire new professional software workflow to do my job. professional video on Linux isn’t real. hobbysist video sure, but pro video work with partners just isn’t realistic on linux.
this is the first thing that’s actually pushing me hard.
How the hell are you editing video on a PC that can’t even support Windows 10?
Yoy are doing professional video work on a PC old enough that it can’t run Windows 10?
Those versions of windows haven’t had support for years. They shouldn’t even be connected to the internet.
They shouldn’t even be connected to the internet.
Yes. What’s also true is that sometimes they must be. You will disagree until you find the exception.
There’s nothing great about companies dropping support and also keeping the code in-house so we can’t contract out improvements and fixes, but unless we change that we’re stuck in a world where ridiculously expensive hardware either needs an old OS or becomes astoundingly expensive e-waste. And yes, it needs to connect sometimes. And yes, that’s a scary as shit.
Yes. What’s also true is that sometimes they must be. You will disagree until you find the exception.
No, there should never be any reason to connect these versions to the internet.
If you are talking about legacy software in a corporate setting, then a vm should do the trick 99% of the time. If that legacy software needs an internet connection (which is already questionable), then you bridge only the specific port it needs to the connected interface. If that doesn’t work either, then you get a separate PC explicitly for that software and disallow pretty much all other connections.
If you are talking about private use, then the only thing keeping you on a windows version older than 10 is your unwillingness to upgrade. Its understandable, but it doesn’t change the fact that these versions have massive security holes and shouldn’t be used anymore.
No, there should never be any reason to connect these versions to the internet.
Welcome… to the real world.
Half od my customers still use Win 7, a few on XP, some on8 for some reason, most on 10.
Then there’s maybe 10% on linux.Most industries are adverse to change and if you can just patch and continue then fine, especially if you don’t need internet like with a POS.
If you don’t need the internet then why would you care about not having the latest Firefox?
It’s fine to use old unsupported OSes as long as they’re isolated from other machines and cannot access the outside world (and you’re careful).
But nobody should be unironically using Firefox on windows 7. Windows 7 has been EOL for over half a decade at this point.
that is going to isolate users and further decrease user base and market share.
Seems in line with what Mozilla’s board of <insert pun that rhymes with directors here 'cos i’m tired> has been doing for ages, so yeah.
But windoze 10 or 11 are different operating systems then windows 7 or 8.
If you’re still hanging on to old hardware. Linux is the way to go baby
At this point, if you have hardware, Linux is a good choice. New or old. The older it is might change which distro, but still a good choice.
I’m not very techie, so when I took my brand new Lenovo (cheap) laptop from w11 to Linux mint, it really felt like an achievement. I haven’t used a command terminal since college, and I straight up made a bootable usb and wiped w11
Nice, that’s sick. I’m soft modding my Wii atm and it also feels good.
Nice!!! But I feel those entry distros could do a lot more to be more user friendly, there are many edge cases where you still need to use a terminal and have some understanding of the OS. We need a truly GUI only distro with more wizards, and automatic repair so more people flee to Gnu/Linux
Edge cases are well, on the edge and sometimes you just need to let them go. You can’t always be everything to everyone.
TBH i really like that i had to get a bit techie again to make the switch. learning to use the terminal a little bit has ignited something in me, and the fact that linux doesnt track my shit has made me way more privacy conscious
One of the main places windows is used, like it or not, are organizations and companies. Especially small ones. Specially ones that are not in wealthy countries. And the only thing that keeps them from switching to linux is microsoft office. (Most importantly Word, excel).
My company has ~20 people and I would switch them over to linux if it wasn’t for word and excel.
While libreoffice is great on it’s own, companies send eachother xlsx and docx files. And libreoffice isnt great at reading or writing them. Specially complex ones. I don’t think it’s much of libre office’s fault, but more the shitty incompatible, unstandardized microsoft formats.
Currently I’m the only Linux user in the team, and I constantly advocate Linux, but I know if anybody switches, compatibility with microsoft office is going to be a problem. I can take the risk with the tech team but not the office section (hr, sales, secretary accounting etc.) really.
Try onlyoffice and slowly try to shift to libreoffice with open document formats. Or just skip that part and move everyone to the web versions of office. Also if you guys are on office 2010, the last time I ran it via wine, it worked completely fine.
No you cannot shift to open document formats because you can’t send an odt file to another company. They will not know what it is. In the enterprise world you have to “send them the word” or “the excel”.
Man I feel you and I know it’s just how things are. But I often ask myself the following question: Why are lots of office workers so bad with computers? It’s the tool they use for 1/3 of working day in their life. Just like a craftsman should learn to use their tools. No, instead they always act like it’s something only tech guys should know about.
This might be a bit harsh, but to be honest, you can’t expect them to be smarter. Otherwise they would also be engineers.
I’m most case you provably want to just send the document as PDF, don’t you? For which use case do you want to send an editable document to another company?
Many companies will send you docx files out of sheer idiocity. And tell you to “send the word” to them.
And excel is always transferred as xlsx
It’s called collaboration. When I worked as a toolmaker, I needed to use SolidWorks, despite not being a big fan, because our customers used SW and they were often literally on the other side of the planet.
Did you try OnlyOffice? I heard it has good compatibility with Microsoft Office’s files, it’s available on almost every OS, and looks easy to use. However, I’m not sure if you can create very complex documents like with Office.
It’s good but not great. The documents will still get messed up and look wierd sometimes.
That’s the rub isn’t it. It’s good, but not quite good enough all the time, every time.
Microsoft dominance in businesses is part of what’s making me think all businesses are in cahoots with each other to make sure the only businesses that are successful are ones that take power away from the public.
There is stuff Office 360 or whatever is called to that online Microsoft Office can do just fine from Firefox or Chrome based browsers. But if things get overcomplicated, it’s as good or even worse than Libreoffice at handling xlsx, docx documents.
Even current Office struggles with early Office documents.
I’m still afraid to switch to Linux because I’ve used Windows since i was a kid with Windows 95. It’s gotten progressively worse, and I’m still reluctantly camped out on Windows 10, but the thought of firing up a new operating system and going back to being a confused adolescent who doesn’t know how to get around (with or without accidentally making an older woman crouching in red lingerie the desktop wallpaper on my family computer and then denying any knowledge of it) makes me really uneasy.
Please, Linux whisperers. Calm my woes. 😓
Most distro’s have a live bootable install. You download a .iso and burn it to a flash drive. Plug it in and boot from it, doesn’t touch or change anything with your current Windows install.
This lets you try out the OS before fully installing it. Give it a whirl.
I personally recommend Fedora KDE. https://fedoraproject.org/kde/
Instead of burning the ISO to the flash drive, I recommend burning Ventoy to your flashdrive. Then you can drag and drop ISOs for every distro you want to try without having to burn them every time.
Ventoy is so freaking cool!
Before Windows 11, I told people to switch to Linux because open source software is better for the soul. Now, I tell people because the user experience is just better. I used XP/Vista/7 throughout my childhood, and modern Linux desktop environments really do feel closer to that experience than Windows 11. I use Win11 for work, and I can confidently say that it has the worst settings menu I’ve ever used.
If you know the basics of using a desktop computer, most things won’t feel that weird or foreign to you. The hardest part will probably be learning Linux-compatible alternatives for apps that only work on Windows. What kind of programs do you typically use on your Windows system?
I’ve used Windows since i was a kid
substitute “Windows” with “computer”. If you have any history of resolving “this doesn’t work for me” on your own (as opposed to waiting for someone else do to it for you), you will be fine. Just be sure not to jump into unknown when you have urgent important things to do :)
You could do what I did: Install a second drive in your computer and install Linux (e.g. Linux Mint) on it. That way you can always go back to Windows should you come to the conclusion that Linux isn’t for you . But I have to say, being a recent switcher from Windows to Linux myself, the transition was really easier than I initially thought.
Linux is way more similar and familiar than you likely imagine.
Of course, learning is inevitable going to Linux for the first time. But learning is not scary or bad. There are helpful docs and the community. Everyone here was once where you are now.
Also, try Linux risk-free on Windows in a virtual machine.
Next you can dual boot.
Next, you can resort to running Windows apps via Wine and other virtual evironments.
And only last but not least, can you go 100% pure Linux.
So there is a gentle and gradual migration path available. It’s not an all or nothing commitment right upfront.
You only have your chains to lose.
You’ve got a very relatable situation. Switching to Linux can be a gradual thing. -Keep your windows main, and get a flash drive boot
- make a folder on you C:/ or D:/ to store your Linux user files (like downloads and documents). This keeps your windows files more separate from your Linux files. It also let’s you keep files across boots. You can delete the Linux folder if you don’t want to keep it around.
- Open up Firefox, and have a browse of your favourite sites. See about logging in and getting your account logged in.
- what’s it like? Is it different to windows? Is the vibe different?
- try installing your favourite app or game.
- get curious!
- too much? Your windows is still right there.
Baby steps! And remember, you don’t need to see the whole staircase, just take the first step :)
I did what Lawnman23 mentioned, downloaded the latest Mint release and flashed it on an usb stick. booted into Linux Mint, and all my hardware did function right away from the start. Including my old printer, all my usb devices, bluetooth devices and no problems with my Nvidia graphics card. After that i installed linux mint next to my windows as a dual boot. I installed it on different SSD drive tho. Linux Mint is now the OS i always use, i got all my programs and games working on Linux, and now am deleting Windows from my pc.
It’s 2 downloads for Ubuntu. The OS and Rufus(there are other programs that can do it) to package the thumbdrive. I did have to restart the system using windows recovery to get it to boot from USB. Did it today during a lazy afternoon. Nuked windy completely. Working flawlessly so far on my “sunsetted” surface tablet. Its just a straight up desktop you can do whatever you want with. You don’t have to touch the scary terminal unless you want to
If you have ever installed windows from scratch you can throw on a Linux distro. Just back anything up you want to keep.
Win10 isn’t all bad, in fact many folks treat that as a decent os. The real issues is having win11 taking hours (from 8pm to 3 am real funny) to upgrade just to find out that copilot has the whole filesystem now. No privacy or sandbox mode. No nothing. A thousands different copilot buttons.
I keep my win10 machine as is because i have a lot of my stuff there, a lot really. But in the end, I have no issue in having a mini laptop with linux. It’s the most low end device i can think of and i freed some space. But, if you’re used to windows that much, 10 is still valid.
I don’t think the women dancing on lingerie phenomenon is ongoing. They make more money selling your data on free videos than they’d make after the money they’d spend programming it
If you’re still using those old and bugged versions then you probably don’t care about unpatched software. Big security issues. Hope no one is using them.
Honestly surprised to learn that they were still supporting 7-8.1 until now.
Microsoft did as well - 8.1 still had ESU support, and as Server 2008 R2 had paid extended support and as it shared a kernel with Vista & 7 you could use those to keep your system updated as well. IIRC both ended January this year.
NGL, I have Win 7 on a Mac that I play old as hell PC games with and FF has been a disaster on it for a long time - to the point where I get most of the downloads of games and the various drivers they need with the macOS install…
Windows 7 users are switching to forks that still support the OS, like r3dfox, Pale Moon, Mypal, and Supermium. Home users stuck with 7 and 8 probably won’t upgrade or try Linux, they didn’t even update to 10 for some reason (and it was free!) .
I mean… if they’re still on Windows 7, they’ll likely keep using Firefox anyway?
“Most browsers, including Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge, have already ended support for Windows 7, 8 and 8.1.”
To me Millions of flies can’t be wrong: eat shit. is a crappy argument but at least they’re
“If your current hardware can’t handle Windows 10 or higher for some reason, you can switch to a Linux-based operating system. The vast majority of Linux distributions come with Firefox as the default browser.”
thats so weird. if someone is forced to be on win7, no way they gonna change to linux. there has to be some compatibility issue in the background.
Windows is so shit. Glad I switched, everything works so much better (and faster) on Linux.
Get on Linux anyway. You have no privacy whatsoever on Windows.
However, if you (like me) have to dual-boot, remember that O&O ShutUp can help you easily turn off Windows’ insidious tracking measures and delete Copilot off your system.
I don’t recommend dual-boot on the same disk. Windows likes to fuck up the bootmanager with updates every so often so you can’t boot into linux anymore.
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True but it’s an easy fix. If you can set up a dual boot you can fix the boot order.
With the list of old Windows vulnerabilities so extensive Firefox could simply just install Linux for users like that.
Most of them (I assume such VMs don’t use browsers) would just click [Agree] and then [Next] a few times, never knowing what was it about, maybe not even noticing any differences.
/s
So, basically Microsoft’s “we know what’s best for you” style? No. Fuck that, no matter the purpose.
I was joking.
I added the “/s” to be extra clear.
I didn’t think of anyone taking that statement seriously (like how wound it even work?).Apologies. I’ve seen weirder shit proposed recently. 2025 has severely damaged my sensors responsible for detecting irony, sarcasm and satire.
As for “how would it work”: on systems as old as Win 7, it would be trivial to escalate privileges and install all kinds of shit.
I do agree with you, I could have written it significantly better (in my brainhole the notion of a browser/browser dev installing you an OS bcs it would mean less work for them was just funny, but I failed in communicating it).
Also lol, yeah, 2025 did a number on irony/nutty theories/near future predictions. 2026 is no better, like whym there aren’t any HDDs left, what kind of worldwide catastrophe hit Earth & caused that??
The install bit - so getting through admin Win would prob be easy (that was the og joke), then the code would have to partition the disk (ok), install Hannah Montana Linux (ok), but then also reboot to that partition - can that be done without Grub on a primary boot partition or the user accessing BIOS?
can that be done without Grub on a primary boot partition or the user accessing BIOS?
I was assuming you’d just write GRUB onto the primary disk and set Hannah Montana Linux (lol, excellent choice of distro!) as the only boot option (because who needs os-prober and a selection timeout when you’ve got the best of distros on disk, amirite?).
I suppose the most problematic part is the partitioning you handwaved as “ok”. Afair, Windows does not allow for live-resizing of the system partition (as it should). But I suppose there are ways around that, particularly if you’ve got another drive or spare partition of adequate size. (OEM recovery partitions come to mind; as much as 10 GB can be enough for a viable Linux system partition.)
Oh, your are right, I always resized partitions with Knoppix or (something with) GParted (Live).
Perhaps there is a way to use Windows partition without any reformat, reboot into the same partition but in Linux, finish installing the rest of the packages & clean up Windows file.
Using them old OEM partitions is a neat idea too.
I’ll open a ticket with Mozilla.
Hannah Montana, Knoppix… a man of culture I see…
I’ll open a ticket with Mozilla.
…who wants to see the world burn!
You know there is some dude the thought removing the /s would make that a valid suggestion.
Thought virus’ are real.
New Firefox plugin incoming (“Download more RAM on your Windows 7 machine”).
Soooo, supermium, then?
There’s also the project “Firefox for Windows 7”. Which is the current version of Firefox rather than the ancient ESR version that Mozilla offers. It works perfectly well in my experience.
Probably hard to support old platforms if the entire toolchain, predominantly owned by Microsoft isn’t supporting them either.
I would do anything for Firefox to stop making a new audio sink for every tab that plays audio. Of course Chromium lets you have just one sink, so I’m just going to blame Firerox’s implementation of HTML5
The advantage there is that one tab can’t crash the others.
