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Adrian Kingsley-Hughes
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12 million still using Firefox 3.5 - Mozilla wants them to upgrade!

By | May 16, 2011, 6:14am PDT

Summary: According to Mozilla there are some 12 million Firefox 3.5 users out there surfing the interwebz, but Mozilla now needs them to upgrade to a more recent release. And Mozilla has drawn up plans on how to accomplish this mass move.

According to Mozilla there are some 12 million  Firefox 3.5 users out there surfing the interwebz, but Mozilla now needs them to upgrade to a more recent release. And Mozilla has drawn up plans on how to accomplish this mass move.

Firefox 3.5 users have two options. Mozilla would prefer that they upgrade to the latest Firefox 4.0.1 release, bringing them bang up to date. Alternatively, if they don’t want to go to Firefox 4 (perhaps because a plugin isn’t supported) then Firefox 3.6.x (currently 3.6.17, with 3.6.18 planned for release June 21st).

So, how will Mozilla deal with those still using Firefox 3.5?

Well, starting with those who have automatic updates enabled, Mozilla will push Firefox 3.6.18 to them after it has been released. Why 3.6.x as opposed to 4.0.x? Because Mozilla considers 3.6.x to be the security upgrade for Firefox 3.5 users.

However, before that happens all Firefox 3.5 will be given warnings that they are running an out of date browser on the default Google search page.

Firefox 3.5 users will have also been warned via the firstrun messaging mechanism built into the browser. Mozilla can also send pop-ups to Firefox 3.5 users informing them of the end of life status of their browser.

So, while I doubt that many readers here will still be using Firefox 3.5 (I just checked … that stats back up that very few of you are using Firefox 3.5 or older), chances are that you someone who is running an older version … tell them what they are missing … before Mozilla has to!

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Topics

Mozilla Firefox, Mozilla Corp., Web Browsers, Internet, Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes is an internationally published technology author who has devoted over a decade to helping users get the most from technology.

Disclosure

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

All opinions expressed on Hardware 2.0 are those of Adrian Kingsley-Hughes. Every effort is made to ensure that the information posted is accurate. If you have any comments, queries or corrections, please contact Adrian via the email link here. Any possible conflicts of interest will be posted below. [Updated: February 23, 2010] - Adrian Kingsley-Hughes has no business relationships, affiliations, investments, or other actual/potential conflicts of interest relating to the content posted so far on this blog.

Biography

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes is an internationally published technology author who has devoted over a decade to helping users get the most from technology -- whether that be by learning to program, building a PC from a pile of parts, or helping them get the most from their new MP3 player or digital camera.

Adrian has authored/co-authored technical books on a variety of topics, ranging from programming to building and maintaining PCs. His most recent books include "Build the Ultimate Custom PC", "Beginning Programming" and "The PC Doctor's Fix It Yourself Guide". He has also written training manuals that have been used by a number of Fortune 500 companies.

Adrian also runs a popular blog under the name The PC Doctor, where he covers a range of computer-related topics -- from security to repairing and upgrading.

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RE: 12 million still using Firefox 3.5 - Mozilla wants them to upgrade!
michaellashinsky@... 30th Jun
@bnlf

I thought it was just me. Thanks.
View in thread
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RE: 12 million still using Firefox 3.5 - Mozilla wants them to upgrade!
Cylon Centurion 16th May 2011
You think that's bad. My school blocked upgrades. They're still using Firefox 3.0, IE 6 on Windows XP. They have, however, upgraded to Firefox 3.5 on the Win7 machines (Again with updates disabled), but, also continue to run way out of date versions of various Adobe and Java softwares.

This is the announcement the school hands out to us via Blackboard:

"Please be advised that new PCs are coming with Windows 7 which comes with Internet Explorer 8. IE 8 as well as other browsers have issues with WebCT. A workaround is to install and use the Mozilla Firefox (version 3.5.9 or EARLIER) browser instead. Also new PCs may come with a newer version of Java than the one we've found works best with WebCT which is Release 5 Update 16. Suggested versions of both Firefox and Java can be found at this link:



If you are using a later version of Java, please uninstall it and install the R5U16 release. A link to how to do this is posted here:



In all cases, make sure that you only have ONE version of Java installed."


School, I am dissapoint. sad
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RE: 12 million still using Firefox 3.5 - Mozilla wants them to upgrade!
Cylon Centurion 16th May 2011
* Sad thing is, WebCT and Blackboard work fine in both IE9 and Firefox 4.0.1.
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Someone in your school IT dept. should be fired
Joe_Raby 16th May 2011
@Cylon Centurion 0005

Microsoft doesn't want people using IE6 anymore, and old versions of Java are prone to the biggest number of security exploits of any application in 2010 (see the recent article on ZDnet). If anybody thinks that these are Windows-exclusive exploits, THINK AGAIN! These Java exploits also affect Mac and Linux systems, and Facebook has already been caught serving up variants of Alureon, and Fake AV programs for all OS's.

Question: Do they allow Facebook on PC's? Facebook is the biggest source of Java exploits right now. They're just going to be causing themselves more grief by staying behind and requiring insecure add-ons and plugins.
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RE: 12 million still using Firefox 3.5 - Mozilla wants them to upgrade!
Cylon Centurion 16th May 2011
@Joe_Raby

Oh yes. As far as I know, the school does not employ content filters. Facebook is the most popular website I see visited in the public lab.
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Then it's their funeral!
Joe_Raby 16th May 2011
Not employing content filters where security can't be kept up to date is a recipe for disaster.

It's another "Sony" waiting to happen.
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Another point of contention
Joe_Raby 16th May 2011
@CC0005

Java seems to be a new favourite language for malware writers to code in. Proof: Android. I tell my own clients that if they don't know if they need Java installed to remove it. It's too big of a risk now, and few people actually keep it up to date. It's also one of the main reasons why people get Google Toolbar (which leads to Google becoming their default search engine, and then Google Update having Chrome checked by default for installation), McAfee Security Scan (which ends up causing issues with Automatic Updates and causing conflicts with legitimate antimalware, and is nothing more than adware to sell McAfee AV), Ask Toolbar (which now partners with WhenU, one of the past leading adware toolbar providers and browser hijackers), and other shaftware installed on their computers without realizing it.

I was seriously hoping that Oracle would clean up this mess. It seems that that isn't happening. It's no wonder that Apple wants to distance themselves from this language.
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RE: 12 million still using Firefox 3.5 - Mozilla wants them to upgrade!
Cylon Centurion 16th May 2011
@Joe_Raby

Agreed. My machines have been Java free for over a year now. Never again will it be installed.
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RE: 12 million still using Firefox 3.5 - Mozilla wants them to upgrade!
vel0city 16th May 2011
@Cylon Centurion 0005 WebCT is terrible software. It only gets worse every time they try and update it, as its just layers and layers of bandaids on rotting flesh.

Schools need to start fresh with brand new software. If PeopleSoft won't really rework their product, schools should go elsewhere.
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RE: 12 million still using Firefox 3.5 - Mozilla wants them to upgrade!
Cylon Centurion 16th May 2011
@vel0city

It is. And my school's administrators know it too. They are currently evaluating other options, however, that won't make up for 4 years of dealing with it. sad
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Don't laugh, but
Joe_Raby 16th May 2011
@vel0city

This regions high school board still uses WordPerfect 12 as the baseline productivity software, which leaves students completely ill-prepared for the workforce. What's worse is that the provincial government has a province-wide educational agreement that licenses every student in public school with a copy of Windows (upgrade only, cuz it's a VL), and Office (full, latest version). Politics within the school boards and ministries cut off students from accessing these benefits, and it's a complete waste of taxpayer money. Microsoft knows that students don't get their government licensing, so they sell the educational software through programs like the "Ultimate Steal" as an alternate. This is often the case in businesses too though: some dick high-up wants to keep his job security, so he keeps the business on a slow upgrade schedule because nobody else wants to deal with issues with degraded software, even if the company is paying for upgrades within their license contract. Same with software that nobody uses (people like DTS).
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RE: 12 million still using Firefox 3.5 - Mozilla wants them to upgrade!
bnlf 16th May 2011
firefox 4 sucks. Im a fan of FF but the fourth version is bugged as hell and for the first time they broke visualization of many pages. Im sticking with 3.6.x for now.
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RE: 12 million still using Firefox 3.5 - Mozilla wants them to upgrade!
michaellashinsky@... 30th Jun
@bnlf

I thought it was just me. Thanks.
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RE: 12 million still using Firefox 3.5 - Mozilla wants them to upgrade!
wendellgee@... 16th May 2011
Firefox 4 is plagued with memory leaks (especially when using addons, even mainstream ones like adblock) I quit firefox completely and moved to chrome after being an avid FF user for years.
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RE: 12 million still using Firefox 3.5 - Mozilla wants them to upgrade!
ScorpioBlue 16th May 2011
@wendellgee@...
Mine isn't. But then you could just be a Chrome fanboy and want us to know about it.
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Where Firefox has memory leaks, Chrome has privacy leaks
Joe_Raby 16th May 2011
@ScorpioBlue

Firefox has a long history of memory leaks. Version 3 was supposed to fix most of those, but a lot of addons have never had validated code and they just aren't written well.
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RE: 12 million still using Firefox 3.5 - Mozilla wants them to upgrade!
ScorpioBlue 16th May 2011
@Joe_Raby
Memory leaks aren't what they used to be. FF 4.1 has had fewer issues on my machine than 3.5 and 3.6 did. It's a vast improvement over the way it used to be and with FF 5 coming soon, we'll hopefully see even more progress on it.

FF is as good as the plug-ins that you add to it. That's always been the case.
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I didn't use Firefox 3.x
Joe_Raby 16th May 2011
@ScorpioBlue

I didn't use Firefox at all, really. I do remember reading that Firefox 2.x was infamous for memory leaks and that 3.0 was supposed to fix them all though. Plug-ins have been a major cause of browser stability too, but the extension system does still need quite a bit of work, but that's often the case with OSS.
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RE: 12 million still using Firefox 3.5 - Mozilla wants them to upgrade!
vel0city 16th May 2011
@wendellgee@... I quit using Firefox after it would consistently make my computer run into Out of Memory errors every few days.

I had 6GB of RAM. Firefox used almost all of it.
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OK, I'll chime in and say FF 4.0
thx-1138_@... 16th May 2011
is definitely worth the upgrade. I'm currently using all the same plugins / extensions that i required in previous releases: i.e. AdBlock Plus and NoScript.

I've used NoScript for the last 4 years and wouldn't run FF without it. At any rate, i'm getting off subject a tad. FF 4.0 is fast - on the face of it, faster than FF 3.6 or any previous releases.

" .. Try it! You'll fly it!."

wink
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oush the add-on upgrades
mnkyhead 17th May 2011
If They really want people to switch, the should be pushing devs to upgrade their add-ons. That is why I haven't switch, there are add-on I use every day that are not compatible with v4. Once they are, I will switch, but until then I am sticking with v3.6
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Errrr
Gis Bun 19th May 2011
Mozilla would love them to jump to 4.0 but I guess that would be to left wing for them. Even still, force upgrades. Mozilla does it - no problem. If Microsoft forced IE6 users to go to IE7, there would be a sh?t storm.

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