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Forewarning, this forum post will be long because of the explanation of this request. A TL;DR will be available at the bottom.
With the end of Windows 7 extended support outside of ESU updates and the upcoming end of Windows 8 support in January 2023, popular Chromium browsers will be ending support for the two operating systems, the former which still has a sizeable user-base. With talks of Firefox potentially ending support in January 2023 as well or possibly extending it to mid-2023, this is a major concern in the conflict of Mozilla's interest to a free internet, holding big tech accountable, ensuring its users security from data being handled responsibly.
With the release of Windows 10 and now Windows 11, Microsoft has made an effort to harvest as much user data as it possibly can, down to the very core of the operating system. Although we will inevitably run the risk of our data being mined by using our cell phones that either Google or Apple holds a stake in with their respective operating system, for many users, the desktop is their last ditch effort for a private workspace and to prevent the user's information from being leaked, stolen and sold to others as a for-profit measure. Windows upgrades from one version to another are largely free now because they profit off of the user's data.
The telemetry measures that were implemented in Windows 10 eventually made their way into Windows 7 and 8, and possibly even Vista. Many of the updates know to harvest user data as a for-profit measure can be disabled in Windows 7 and more difficulty done in Windows 8, however it is not the core of the operating system to harvest the users' data. While most of the telemetry features can be disabled on Windows 10, not all measures can be disabled and user data is *still* harvested and sold.
A desktop environment is a wonderful environment for several things, but it should not be one where we fear for our data being stolen in a possible cyber-attack that can target any corporation, where personal and private information can be stolen and used against many people. I think Mozilla's staff, a majority of Mozilla users and a lot of others would agree that spyware is bad and this is exactly spyware behavior. Most people have become complacent with Windows 10's behavior of mining and selling user data and have stuck with Windows 10 for several reasons, but that side of the complaint lies with Microsoft, not Mozilla.
My request is, in alignment with Mozilla's mission of creating a free, safe, and private web, that Mozilla continue support for Windows 7 and Windows 8 past mid-2023. I use the term support loosely - in other words, my request is that after support has been ended for the two operating systems, that no "artificial blocks" be put on an installer, in which a user would be able to normally run a program but can't *only* because the version number is not of Windows 10 or greater.
I know, like many other businesses and such, Mozilla can have their hands tied with many things, especially labor wise. In my request, I would recommend that Mozilla not provide first party support for Firefox on Windows 10 and later in order to best allocate resources to the environments where they are needed with the changing world of computing since it would of course be rather selfish to say that we need to have a dedicated team to the older systems.
Mozilla SHOULD continue their development of their browser and start to allocate more resources to Windows 10 and above. However, if we are being honest, Windows 7 is not much more functionally different than Windows 10 or 11, in fact in reality, they are still based on the Windows NT 6 kernel, introduced back in Vista. The NT version number was changed to 10 *only* to reflect the Windows version number with the NT kernel "version" number. Windows 7 would likely not need anything special or different to be able to function in a way that Windows 10 or 11 could not. If so, in respect to my first party support comments, the community of legacy Windows users is a wonderful thing and would be willing to develop necessary functions in order to make Firefox work on legacy version if there were to ever be an update that would officially break Firefox on Windows 7 because it is too functionally different. In terms of "artificial blocks," if we SHOULD be able to get Firefox to run, please allow us to without nagging us by simply saying that "Firefox is not supported on your version of Windows" or some variation thereof.
As I obviously speak for myself, I also speak for a lot of other users. Some of us using legacy Windows versions may not be able to afford upgrading to a newer machine, or upgrading might simply be unnecessary. As I mentioned, Windows 7 is not so much functionally different that it is obsolete, which is why Windows 7 has about equal market share with Windows 11. With Windows 11 requiring the need for TPM 2.0, upgrading can cause a lot of e-waste, in the same way that forcing people to upgrade to a newer machine in order to run later versions of Windows can create e-waste as machines still running Windows 7 can operate perfectly fine, in turn also doing worse for the environment. This is not my main point of this, but especially during the global economic crisis, the chip shortage has created a lot of hurdles for people who may not be able to afford or obtain a newer machine and this is a troubling issue if browser developers decide to halt support of a functionally sound system.
Thank you to anyone for reading this and your consideration. I am glad to be a Firefox user for the past 10 years, and I would love to remain one. Thank you Mozilla for helping us keep an free, open and safe web. I hope you will take my request into consideration in accordance with your mission.
Happy holidays!
TL;DR: (still a little winded, my apologies.)
My request is that Windows 7/Windows 8 support be extended in accordance with Mozilla's mission. Windows 10/11 has a lot of spyware related practices that go against Mozilla's mission and should allow the systems which do not have data mining weaved into the core system to stay "supported," but unofficially Windows 7 and 8 are not so much functionally different than the later versions of Windows to end support other than just saying the user can't run Firefox because Mozilla no longer testing it on Windows 7 and 8 can't ensure its usability or because Mozilla would like for the user to move on for some reason. If no special programming is required for Windows 7 or 8 to make Firefox functional on them, then I encourage Mozilla to still allow 7/8 users to install and run Firefox but with no first party support, only community support. This is to ensure Mozilla is able to keep resources where they need them internally and not to cater to the minority. If Firefox does eventually break on Windows 7 or 8 and the community develops a workaround, please do not block us from running Firefox just because our version number is not 10 or higher. If we are able to run Firefox, but without it being designed with Windows 7 and 8 in mind (for instance, when official support ends,) let us know it may not work as expected but at the end of the day, if the user can run Firefox, please allow us to do so and not block us with the aforementioned version check or some other arbitrary reason to keep it from running on older systems. Upgrading may not be possible for some people who do not have a budget to do so and can also be environmentally bad in some cases. Thank you, care and regards from me.
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