Earlier this week Mozilla decided to launch its Firefox 6 browser, three months after the release of Firefox 5 and only a month after the beta version was showed to the public. The company stated that the fourth version has "more than 1,000 improvements," in which they included a "Do Not Track" privacy feature and also support for CSS Animations.
However, the company is thoroughly criticized for not letting users know it is now dangerous to use Firefox 4 as they stopped releasing security patches for the older version. Users who do not update their browser due to various reasons should be aware of the fact that they are not protected against the latest malware.
"Firefox 6 is the security update for Firefox 5, and we do not plan to release a Firefox 5.0.2," Mozilla Foundation's director of Firefox engineering, Johnathan Nightingale told its users through TechNewsWorld.
Now questions have risen whether Mozilla should have automatically updated its browser instead of sending pop-up windows to its users reminding them to make sure they updated Firefox. As the company tries to release a new version every three months, some users have been left confused while others are simply annoyed. Moreover some are bothered by the fact that not all plug-ins and add-ons have been updated to work on the latest Firefox version.
James Reid is the manager of threat research at Webroot Company. He concluded that: "Users who don't wish to update are exposing themselves to potential security risks. On the other hand, upgrading now may create issues with existing plug-ins, which may not immediately be supported in Firefox 6.0.”
