I have coins in an older version of multibit. When I export the private keys, it saves them and I can view them in a text editing software. Am I going to be safe for whatever happens on August first? Let's say my wallet doesn't work after August first, will I just be able to enter the private key into Electrum and still have my bitcoins? Thanks.
Could anyone please answer this, I'm fairly certain that I'm safe because I can read my private key in plaintext but I want to be sure.
Yes you should be OK, I still had a Multibit Classic recently but changed because it wasn't able to use high fees for transactions, I seem to remember I just exported the private key of my address (even though Multibit recommended to send your coins to a new address on Multibit HD).
What you should do is install Electrum and import that private key right now, you will know for sure it's OK.
Also you should print that private key then delete it from your computer, or at least put a password on the text file.