According to the following post taken from the G Hacks site, Firefox 3.6 users 
will automatically be updated to Firefox 11 or 12.  This could be bad news for 
many Firefox 3.6 users who have been reluctant to update to Firefox 11 because 
of various issues , including reports of problems with Webvisum.  As the post 
explains, you may be forced to update to Firefox 11 or 12 whether you like it 
or not:

There are still Firefox users out there that are using the Firefox 3.6 branch 
of the browser. Motivation to do so differs, from disliking the design and
interface of newer versions of the browser to using add-ons that are not 
compatible with never versions of Firefox. And then there are users who have 
turned
updates off, or not enough privileges to run the updates. With Firefox 3.6 
reaching its end of life this month, Mozilla and Firefox 3.6 users are in a
predicament.While there are currently no known security vulnerabilities for 
version 3.6 of the browser, Mozilla fears that criminals will exploit the end
of support to attack Firefox 3.6 users on the Internet.

Hitslink
 sees the browser's 3.6 branch's market share at around 2.6% of all Internet 
users, with another 0.75% running previous versions of Firefox 3. While market
share can differ depending on the company that is providing them, a share of 
more than 3% would put Firefox 3.6's market share over that of all versions
of the Opera browser. It means that millions upon millions of Internet users 
are still working with Firefox 3.6.

Firefox 3.6 users will see an update notification when they open the browser 
the next time. It reads:

block quote
Software Update

New Version available

Do you want to upgrade to Firefox 11. now?

URGENT!

Your version of Firefox will soon be vulnerable to online attacks.

Get the upgrade - is's fast & free!

list of 3 items
. Stay safe online
. Experience faster performance
. Enjoy new features
list end

You will be prompted once more before being automatically updated.

block quote end

firefox 3.6 automatic update

Firefox 3.6 users can block the upgrade to Firefox 11 at this point in time. 
The message informs them however that their browser will be automatically 
updated
after one more update prompt. Mozilla plans to do that some time after the 
release of Firefox 12, which would update Firefox 3.6 users to that version
of the browser. At this point in time, it is not really clear how this 
automatic update will look like, and if users will have a say after all. The 
terminology
however suggests a forced update to Firefox 12. Disabling updates in Firefox 
3.6 would likely block the update from being rolled out though.

It is also interesting to note that Mozilla plans to offer a second automatic 
update after the release of Firefox 13, to again update Firefox 3.6 users
to Firefox 12.

The update is significant to part of the browser's user base for another 
reason. You may remember that Mozilla decided to stop supporting Windows 2000 
come
Firefox 13, and Mac OS X < 10.5 with the release of Firefox 4. As it stands 
now, Windows 2000 users of Firefox 3.6 will still be updated to Firefox 12.
Mozilla plans to provide users on those operating systems with information 
about the support stop and alternatives. Updates to Firefox 13 will not be 
available
for Windows 2000 users. End of support for these operating systems, Windows XP 
Pre SP-2 is another one, is the main support why the second update prompt
will still update users to Firefox 12 and not the newer version.

Are you a Firefox 3.6 user? If so, how would you like Mozilla to handle the 
situation? Will you take the company up on the upgrade, block updates, or switch
browsers?



Gerald 

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