Mozilla Firefox 1.0x series end of life….
The Mozilla Firefox 1.0.x series will no longer be supported with security updates. IF you use Firefox as your web browser, make sure you’re using the current version in the 1.5 series (currently 1.5.0.3). You can find what your current version is by going to Help, “About Mozilla Firefox”. The 1.5 series automatically downloads and installs updates and periodically checks for updates for the installed extensions.
According to the article, the 2.0 release of Firefox is expected sometime in August and will include notifications for plug-in updates as well (java/realplayer/acrobat reader/flash etc.) Again from the article …..
“It’s rare that we hear of Firefox users getting hit with exploits when they visit a Web site, but if one of our users does get hit it’s usually because of some Java exploit,” Veditz said.
There are online instructions for upgrading from the 1.0 series to the 1.5 series of firefox here. BTW, updates for the 1.5 series of Firefox are expected next week. The updates are supposed to be patching a number of security vulnerabilities. Those fixes will NOT be available for the older 1.0 series, so now would be a good opportunity to go ahead and move up to 1.5
I’ve got to say, the automatic update feature, I think, is the BEST improvement in the 1.5 series. I would LOVE to see software such as OpenOffice incorporate similar functionality. (Or other free software projects for that matter.) I think given the current state of computer security it’s important to keep your applications updated as well as the base operating system and ANY way that developers can make that process easier, and more mandatory (for security updates) the better.
Normally, I do cringe at forced upgrades and frankly, forced upgrades, are typically done for the purpose of extracting a few more $$ from the existing customer base. Obviously with an open source product like Mozilla Firefox, there are fewer excuses not to do an upgrade.