Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 will not receive official support from Microsoft for a long time, but Mozilla continues to support users who are still anchored in these operating systems by supporting Firefox, its famous browser, and today it confirmed plans to continue doing so.

Mozilla will continue to support Firefox on Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 8.1 until April 1, 2025. It is not clear what will happen when that date arrives, but it may mean the end of support for said browser on these operating systems, as Mozilla itself has emphasized how complex it is and that it is “not free”.

To maintain support in Firefox, the Mozilla team had to maintain two differentiated lines, 115, which is aimed at unsupported operating systems, and 128, which is for supported operating systems such as Windows 10 and Windows 11. This allowed Mozilla to clean up the browser codebase and free itself from the burden of being the oldest bookstore.

Why will Firefox continue to be supported on Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 8.1?

Well, it is very simple because there is still a user base in these operating systems. which is enough to justify this effort to continue to support it. The company didn’t provide specific data, but we know from the results that appear in Steam’s monthly survey, as well as StatCounter’s results, that the three operating systems have a very low user share.

According to StatCounter numbers, the sum of the user base of Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 globally it would not even reach 4%.. With this in mind, it’s not surprising that Google and Microsoft themselves stopped supporting these operating systems in their browsers in January 2023. I’m giving you this data because it’s more general than the data from Steam.

And speaking of Steam, a well-known platform Valve has also stopped supporting Windows 7 January 1, which means it is only compatible with Windows 10 and above. If you’re still using Windows 7 or Windows 8.1, you should consider upgrading to at least Windows 10, as this operating system is supported and should work fine for you.

As you might imagine, Windows 7 is the one with the largest user base of the three operating systems. Mozilla planned to stop supporting itstarting from the same month of Septemberbut at length he relented, and, as I told you, resolved to keep it for a few months longer.

AI generated images.