But if you are running a slightly older distribution (OpenSuSE 10.3 or 11.0 for instance) and do not want the hassle of upgrading or changing distributions then having the new release available in a repository for Ubuntu does not really do me any good.

What is the point of making a newer release of Firefox directly available from the Mozilla site so I can update just that piece of my system without having to wait for it to be released as part of a whole OS distribution?

I am always dismayed by the lack of Linux x86_64 Firefox releases.
I can download current releases of OpenOffice for Linux x96_64.
Why is it so hard to find Firefox for x86_64???

I did not really have much negative feeling for Wal-Mart until I worked in Bentonville for two to three weeks at the Wal-Mart IT HQ.
Between the IT sweatshop like conditions inside the building and all pervasive Wal-Mart "culture" in the rest of the town, it made
me never want to spend time in a Wal-Mart store let alone any more time in Bentonville. Imagine if you will when you go to buy
anything at a grocery store the only choices you have are Wal-Mart grocery stores! If Wal-Mart does not carry what you want
then you are just SOL.

In fact that shift from hardware that ran Irix to WinNT could have happened well before the dot.com bust in 2001. It might have been as early as 1999.