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Cutting corners: Thunderbird designers are working vigilantly to upgrade and restore the traditional mail program for PC. Due to restricted advancement resources, the group has actually chosen to terminate assistance for older operating systems beginning with the next significant release.
According to a current message from Thunderbird engineering director Andrei Hajdukewycz, the open-source mail customer will not extend assistance to older PC platforms as Firefox has actually done. Mozilla just recently revealed that the most recent “Extended Support Release” of its web internet browser (Firefox 115 ESR) will get an extra 6 months of security updates for Windows 7 and 8. The Thunderbird group has actually chosen to take a various technique.
“We will not be extending assistance of Thunderbird 115 in the exact same method,” Hajdukewycz validated. Assistance will end as prepared, with the last variation offering ensured compatibility with Windows 7/8 and macOS 10.12-10.14 being 115.15.x. There might be one extra small upgrade after 115.15.0, however absolutely nothing more, the designer stated.
Hajdukewycz discussed that there are 3 primary factors behind the group's choice. Thunderbird has a “considerably” lower user rely on Windows 7 and 8– roughly 6 percent compared to 11 percent for Firefox. In addition, the Thunderbird advancement group has less resources than the Firefox group. Preparation even more launches after variation 115 might divert important programs time from more crucial jobs, such as preparing the task's primary month-to-month releases.
Hajdukewycz is advising Thunderbird users to acknowledge the “requirement” to upgrade their OS– and most likely their hardware– as important for keeping a safe PC system. The last 115 ESR release of Thunderbird will stay offered for download through Mozilla servers for the time being, however this alternative might ultimately vanish completely if the program ends up being risky to utilize.
That stated, Thunderbird 115 and even previously releases are most likely to continue operating with really couple of problems on Windows 7 for a while longer. My primary offline e-mail customer is still Thunderbird 3.1.9, an ancient variation launched by Mozilla in 2011, though I ought to update the program as quickly as possible.
Thunderbird is presently established by MZLA Technologies Corporation, a subsidiary produced by Mozilla in 2020 after the business chose to return to the e-mail customer market. The MZLA group is working to basically reconstruct the software application from scratch, including a brand-new user interface and assistance for contemporary e-mail abilities.
