Is It a Good Thing That Microsoft Is Getting rid of the Firefox Web Browser Engine?
Microsoft has announced that they are removing the Firefox ESR as a supported browser for Microsoft's Windows operating system. This follows up on the announcement of their Removal of Internet Explorer from Windows XP, which left many users unable to run Internet Explorer on their new operating system. As is typical with these Microsoft moves, this is primarily a consumer move. Mozilla has challenged Microsoft to explain why they would remove one of their favorite browsers, while at the same time providing a path to allow Firefox users to continue to use Firefox on their Windows computers. It appears that Microsoft, being pressured by their competitors, will find another way to remove Firefox from Windows.
While Firefox for Windows may have been axed, Firefox for Linux still enjoys a large user base. Many users have migrated from the Windows platform in search of a better web browser. Fortunately, Firefox works well under Linux and has a much larger community than Microsoft does. As a result, many users are finding that they can continue to use Firefox while maintaining the security of their Windows systems.
So is it a bad thing that Firefox ESR is being removed from Windows? The short answer is no, not necessarily because the feature works just as well as Firefox for Linux, as demonstrated by the large number of users who continue to use this web browser. The removal of the feature is likely due to fears that the feature would render Firefox useless on Windows, as well as fears that Microsoft could take advantage of the removal to gain backdoor functionality through the ESR code. However, as we've seen with other Microsoft security features such as antivirus and malware removal tools, the removal of the ESR feature is not likely to have a major impact on the overall security of your PC.
