I love Macs. They are both efficient and durable. However, their durability is both a blessing and a curse, as the life of the hardware often extends past the life of available operating systems running on them. For example, I have a Mac Pro that was Built-To-Order with two 3 GHz Dual-Core Intel Xeon Processors, and 16 Gigs of Ram. The Mac is still plenty powerful, still reasonably fast, despite its age. Unfortunately, the last available OS X version for this machine is 10.7.5 (Lion). Because this operating system has little or no support from Apple, programs begin to become scarce, especially when you are trying to find a browser for an old version of OS X. There are no “current” browsers available from Google, Firefox, or anyone else. This problem is really scary if you are replacing a hard drive, and re-installing a vintage operating system (as I was doing a few weeks ago).
What to do? Even though I don’t do a lot of browsing from my old Mac Pro, I still want the machine available to do this task if necessary. After some serious spelunking around the net, I found a solution. To find a browser for an old version of OS X, simply click HERE. This is a Mozilla repository for what appears to be every version of Firefox from 0.10.1 to Present. For my Lion OS X, I found Version 45.9.0 ESR, originally released April 19, 2017.
What is an ESR release for Mozilla? Here is their explanation: “Mozilla will offer an Extended Support Release (ESR) based on a regular release of Firefox for desktop for use by organizations including schools, universities, businesses and others who need extended support for mass deployments.” Current ESR releases are available today from HERE.
Obviously, the safest browser is the (hopefully) latest browser available. But for those of us that need them, it is still possible to find a browser for an old version of OS X, and a browser more current than the Safari browser packaged the existing operating system.