Individuals using Thunderbird on older editions of Windows or macOS will forfeit the capability to receive program updates starting next month.
The Thunderbird development team has verified that support will officially conclude as anticipated. Consequently, the release of Thunderbird 115.15.0 this month will be the final significant update offered for these operating systems.
Firefox Prolongs Support, While Thunderbird Does Not
Mozilla encountered a similar situation with its Firefox web browser but opted to extend its support. Considering Thunderbird is constructed on the same codebase as Firefox, the developers of both applications faced alike challenges.
Mozilla has decided to prolong the support for Firefox, which means that users on the impacted operating systems will receive an extra six months of assistance.
The Thunderbird team has presented three primary reasons for its choice to terminate support:
- Decreasing usage: Approximately 11 percent of Firefox users operate on Windows 7 or Windows 8 / 8.1, in contrast to merely 6 percent of Thunderbird users experiencing similar limitations.
- Resources for the Thunderbird team are constrained, and extending support would necessitate diverting crucial resources away from other initiatives.
- Microsoft has ceased support for these operating systems.
It is evident that the Thunderbird development team is significantly smaller compared to that of Firefox, which is an important factor. Still, a 6 percent usage statistic indicates a considerable number of users. If the overall user base is around 10 million, it implies that approximately 600,000 users could be negatively impacted by this choice.
Although Thunderbird will continue to function after support concludes, it will stop receiving updates, including essential security fixes. There is a possibility that bugs or other complications could emerge, potentially affecting some features of the email client.
This reduction may not be immediate, but as technology advances, it is probable that certain functionalities may cease to work over time.
Users who cannot upgrade their systems at this time may still access their email accounts through online alternatives. However, very few email clients continue to support Windows 7 or 8. Postbox is only compatible with Windows 8, while MailSpring is said to support Windows 7.
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