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Firefox is ending support for Windows 7, 8 and 8.1, and users are urged to switch to Linux
(www.pcgamer.com)
Already on Linux.
Life is good 👍
this post was submitted on 19 Feb 2026
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Made the switch when Windows 7 went EOL. Helped plenty of others make the switch now before 10 was killed off. Life is good indeed.
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Pretty sure Mozilla has the numbers on how many installations each OS has, so it’s probably a legitimate decision. HOWEVER, if they want to maintain their position on Linux, I highly recommend changing the default behavior of Ctrl+Shift+C to match how it works in Helium, where it simply copies the selected content instead of opening Developer Mode, which cannot be closed again using the same keystroke.
You can change that in about:keyboard in the new Firefox versions
Absolutely, all behavior can be changed somehow. But the default defines the product :)
Ah the classic Linux community response to any complaint.
- The default either actively ignores what every other software does or purposely uses something other than everything else for no apparent reason.
- Someone brings up the fact that it makes no sense why it's different and how it makes the user experience worse.
- Someone else recommends a half baked solution that still doesn't really solve the problem and doesn't address the fact that the specific weirdness being default is the issue. So it ignores the actual complaint and only provides a half solution.
- Nothing is ever done to address the issue and it remains for decades constantly annoying new users and being one of thousands of small issues that turn potential curious new users away as they accumulate.
Proposing a fix is better than no fix? I didn't know it was possible, and now I'm looking into it.
Changing the default is a social issue, so of course it's more difficult than changing one's current setting.
Why is that persons response considered the community response?
Ive been using Linux for 20 years so... Can we change that shortcut please?
The fuck you want us to do about it? We don't have commit access to firefox's codebase.
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I doubt they'll change that, since Ctrl+Shift+C also opens the dev console on chromium based browsers on Windows (just tried it with Chrome and Edge). Not sure if that's the behavior on Linux, since I only use Firefox there.
Also, I really doubt that Ctrl+Shift+C behavior is going to factor into people's decision anyway. That's a very niche problem to have.
Can confirm ctrl-shift-c opens dev console
I keep mixing up the shortcuts because ctrl-shift-c is copy in the KDE terminal
This behavior isn't unique to KDE’s Konsole; many others share it. Since Ctrl + C performs an entirely different function in most Linux terminals/shells, Firefox’s default behavior feels out of place. It’s admittedly a niche problem, but to me, it looks like an 'alien' in the Linux world.
EDIT: Thinking about it, this is actually exactly how GNU software usually works: set a weird default behavior so that people are incentivized to figure out how the software actually works just to change it.
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What's wrong with Ctrl+C to copy? Its the default shortcut on pretty much everything except terminals.
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The PC Gamer article's title also says "upgrade or". That's a heck of a detail to editorialize out of the title.
From the Mozilla post it cites:
After this, no security updates will be provided and you are strongly encouraged to upgrade to a supported Microsoft Windows version.
Or, if your current hardware can't handle Windows 10 or higher for some reason, you can switch to a Linux-based operating system. The vast majority of Linux distributions come with Firefox as the default browser.
I agree switching to Linux is the better option. I want to try Bazzite.
Bazzite's excellent, just be aware going in that it's an immutible distro and some stuff may be different than you're used to.
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If you're still hanging on to old hardware. Linux is the way to go baby
At this point, if you have hardware, Linux is a good choice. New or old. The older it is might change which distro, but still a good choice.
I’m not very techie, so when I took my brand new Lenovo (cheap) laptop from w11 to Linux mint, it really felt like an achievement. I haven’t used a command terminal since college, and I straight up made a bootable usb and wiped w11
Nice, that's sick. I'm soft modding my Wii atm and it also feels good.
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One of the main places windows is used, like it or not, are organizations and companies. Especially small ones. Specially ones that are not in wealthy countries. And the only thing that keeps them from switching to linux is microsoft office. (Most importantly Word, excel).
My company has ~20 people and I would switch them over to linux if it wasn't for word and excel.
While libreoffice is great on it's own, companies send eachother xlsx and docx files. And libreoffice isnt great at reading or writing them. Specially complex ones. I don't think it's much of libre office's fault, but more the shitty incompatible, unstandardized microsoft formats.
Currently I'm the only Linux user in the team, and I constantly advocate Linux, but I know if anybody switches, compatibility with microsoft office is going to be a problem. I can take the risk with the tech team but not the office section (hr, sales, secretary accounting etc.) really.
Try onlyoffice and slowly try to shift to libreoffice with open document formats. Or just skip that part and move everyone to the web versions of office. Also if you guys are on office 2010, the last time I ran it via wine, it worked completely fine.
No you cannot shift to open document formats because you can't send an odt file to another company. They will not know what it is. In the enterprise world you have to "send them the word" or "the excel".
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Did you try OnlyOffice? I heard it has good compatibility with Microsoft Office's files, it's available on almost every OS, and looks easy to use. However, I'm not sure if you can create very complex documents like with Office.
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If you’re still using those old and bugged versions then you probably don’t care about unpatched software. Big security issues. Hope no one is using them.
Honestly surprised to learn that they were still supporting 7-8.1 until now.
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I'm still afraid to switch to Linux because I've used Windows since i was a kid with Windows 95. It's gotten progressively worse, and I'm still reluctantly camped out on Windows 10, but the thought of firing up a new operating system and going back to being a confused adolescent who doesn't know how to get around (with or without accidentally making an older woman crouching in red lingerie the desktop wallpaper on my family computer and then denying any knowledge of it) makes me really uneasy.
Please, Linux whisperers. Calm my woes. 😓
It's 2 downloads for Ubuntu. The OS and Rufus(there are other programs that can do it) to package the thumbdrive. I did have to restart the system using windows recovery to get it to boot from USB. Did it today during a lazy afternoon. Nuked windy completely. Working flawlessly so far on my "sunsetted" surface tablet. Its just a straight up desktop you can do whatever you want with. You don't have to touch the scary terminal unless you want to
If you have ever installed windows from scratch you can throw on a Linux distro. Just back anything up you want to keep.
Most distro’s have a live bootable install. You download a .iso and burn it to a flash drive. Plug it in and boot from it, doesn’t touch or change anything with your current Windows install.
This lets you try out the OS before fully installing it. Give it a whirl.
I personally recommend Fedora KDE. https://fedoraproject.org/kde/
Instead of burning the ISO to the flash drive, I recommend burning Ventoy to your flashdrive. Then you can drag and drop ISOs for every distro you want to try without having to burn them every time.
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Before Windows 11, I told people to switch to Linux because open source software is better for the soul. Now, I tell people because the user experience is just better. I used XP/Vista/7 throughout my childhood, and modern Linux desktop environments really do feel closer to that experience than Windows 11. I use Win11 for work, and I can confidently say that it has the worst settings menu I've ever used.
If you know the basics of using a desktop computer, most things won't feel that weird or foreign to you. The hardest part will probably be learning Linux-compatible alternatives for apps that only work on Windows. What kind of programs do you typically use on your Windows system?
You could do what I did: Install a second drive in your computer and install Linux (e.g. Linux Mint) on it. That way you can always go back to Windows should you come to the conclusion that Linux isn't for you . But I have to say, being a recent switcher from Windows to Linux myself, the transition was really easier than I initially thought.
I’ve used Windows since i was a kid
substitute "Windows" with "computer". If you have any history of resolving "this doesn't work for me" on your own (as opposed to waiting for someone else do to it for you), you will be fine. Just be sure not to jump into unknown when you have urgent important things to do :)
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"Most browsers, including Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge, have already ended support for Windows 7, 8 and 8.1."
To me Millions of flies can't be wrong: eat shit. is a crappy argument but at least they're
"If your current hardware can't handle Windows 10 or higher for some reason, you can switch to a Linux-based operating system. The vast majority of Linux distributions come with Firefox as the default browser."
I mean, it's a lot of work to make security updates for a browser on an operating system that doesn't get security updates anymore. Why spend money fixing the weapons on a sinking ship?
Windows 7 users are switching to forks that still support the OS, like r3dfox, Pale Moon, Mypal, and Supermium. Home users stuck with 7 and 8 probably won't upgrade or try Linux, they didn't even update to 10 for some reason (and it was free!) .
I mean… if they’re still on Windows 7, they’ll likely keep using Firefox anyway?
Windows is so shit. Glad I switched, everything works so much better (and faster) on Linux.
Get on Linux anyway. You have no privacy whatsoever on Windows.
However, if you (like me) have to dual-boot, remember that O&O ShutUp can help you easily turn off Windows' insidious tracking measures and delete Copilot off your system.
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thats so weird. if someone is forced to be on win7, no way they gonna change to linux. there has to be some compatibility issue in the background.
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