After annoucing in December 2016 that it plans to move Windows XP and Vista users to Firefox Extended Support Release (ESR), Mozilla this week announced that support for the two operating systems will be completely removed in June 2018.
Firefox is the last major browser to offer support for the two outdated and obsolete operating systems, but Mozilla has finally decided to change that.
Google cut the cord on Windows XP and Vista a while back, with Chrome 49 being the last release to work on the old platforms (the browser is currently at version 61). In early 2017, Google dropped support for the platforms in Gmail as well, by removing support for Chrome version 53 and below from the email service.
Despite releasing security updates for Windows XP to tackle Shadow Brokers exploits following the WannaCry outbreak, Microsoft isn’t supporting the platform either. The company ended support for the platform on April 8, 2014, when it released the last security updates for it.
Internet Explorer 8, which is used by as many as 88% of Windows XP users as their standard browser, hasn’t received security updates for almost two years.
“Today we are announcing June 2018 as the final end of life date for Firefox support on Windows XP and Vista. As one of the few browsers that continues to support Windows XP and Vista, Firefox users on these platforms can expect security updates until that date. Users do not need to take additional action to receive those updates,” Mozilla announced in a blog post.
The Internet organization is also encouraging users to upgrade to a versions of Windows that is supported by Microsoft. With no security updates available for unsupported platforms, known vulnerabilities and exploits put their users at risk.
Despite warnings, however, Windows XP and Vista continue to be widely used in enterprise environments. A June 2017 report revealed that the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS, or the Met) was still using over 10,000 XP machines on their network.
Related: Windows XP Receives Patches for More ‘Shadow Brokers’ Exploits
Related: Gmail Drops Support for Chrome on Windows XP and Vista
Related: Mozilla to Kill Firefox for Windows XP, Vista in 2017
