I got a message from Apple saying that Firefox no longer supports OS 10.5. Is it time to move on to a different browser, or are there compelling reasons to upgrade to Mountain Lion if I'm happy with what I have?
Mac OS X (10.5.8)
No need to upgrade OS for Firefox. Use the latest SeaMonkey (combines Thunderbird and Firefox) - see my SeaMonkey page at:
Get TenFourFox and basically continue using Firefox. It gets all the necesssary Firefox security updates and will use all the Firefox Add-ons. If you have an Intel Mac, it will run under Rosetta/PPC emulation, which shouldn't slow you down much, if at all--at least give it a try. All your bookmarks, everything, will still be there. It will use your current Firefox Profile.
Plug-ins like Flash are disabled by default, but they can easily be reenabled. Although I would leave out Java and use Flash with discretion (get the FlashBlock Add-on, which will set a placeholder for Flash content), since there are known Flash exploits for older versions of Flash.
TenFourFox home page
http://www.floodgap.com/software/tenfourfox/
TenFourFox for G5 download
http://tenfourfox.googlecode.com/files/TenFourFoxG5-10.0.9.app.zip
Reenable plug-ins
http://tenfourfox.blogspot.com/2011/07/60b1-available.html
FlashBlock
Been there - tried all this - nothing like as good as SeaMonkey
And Wzzz inadvertently gives you an excellent reason not to go to Mountain Lion. You cannot use Rosetta in Lion or Mountain Lion. Nor can you use PPC either.
Upgrade OS or get a different browser?
