Re: Removing Firefox Version Number

I actually do understand the rationale behind what is being suggested
by Alex and supported by Asa.  Part of me even agrees with it... but a
much larger part doesn't.  Most importantly, I believe it to be based
on a flawed premise, and I won't be the first to say it in this
thread: hosted software is fundamentally different than locally-
installed software and trying to make them similar is a flawed thing
to do.

What version of GMail am I running?  It doesn't matter, I agree, and
even if I knew there's not a thing I could do about it.  That last bit
is the key!  The software host is responsible and in control of that
entirely, there's no way for me to effect a version change.  With
installed software however, that's simply not the case.  Whether its a
bad idea or not is an entirely different point, but the fact is I can
back-rev my browser, or any other locally-installed software, any time
I wish (assuming I can still find the installer floating around).  I
may even NEED to: anyone experienced in software development knows
that no matter how perfect the development methodology may be,
regression breakages happen.  This is even more true for software that
is a runtime for other software, as a browser essentially is, since
there's many more subtle ways things can get broken and no way to
fully regression test it anyway.  If a browser upgrade causes my
bank's web site to not work, even if its ultimately the fault of the
bank for not coding "properly" somehow, in the short-term it doesn't
matter, I need to back-rev if access to that site is critical, as a
bank web site may well be for many people these days.  I don't even
need to invoke the "enterprise argument" here, which carries even more
weight in this regard in terms of needing to ensuring proper
functionality of webapps to maintain business continuity.

Trying to base a decision like this on a flawed comparison leads to a
false dichotomy.  Hosted software, it can be argued, makes version
numbers irrelevant because it's out of the users' control, but for
locally-installed software that is obviously not true... and I know I
for one always turn off forced upgrades in all software that has that
capability, even though in most cases I simply upgrade more or less
automatically anyway (I certainly do with Firefox for example)... the
fact that I'm still in control makes a world of difference.  Likewise,
having the control to go backward is necessary, whether its a good
idea or not (Asa says it never is, my bank web site not working
illustrates otherwise).

Speaking as someone who spends a large part of my professional day on
UX design concerns I can tell you the notion of discoverability and
consistency are of paramount importance in the overall user experience
to how effective they are with a piece of software.  They should be
able to quickly and easily discover functionality and information in
software in a logical manner even if they've never experience that
aspect of it before.  Going to the About box of a piece of software to
get the version number quite obviously falls in that category based on
nothing more than accepted convention.  Likewise, the fact that this
is considered a standard on most systems today and in most software
means the consistency will be apparent to the user and therefore
better usability-wise.  Saying they now need to go to a
troubleshooting page instead is introducing a change for a highly
debatable benefit, and arguably the downside outweighs any benefit.

Like most of you, my mother always asked the hypothetical "if all your
friends were jumping off a bridge, would you jump too?" and while the
answer is most usually "no, of course not!", if we were all jumping
into a pool of $100 dollar bills then our answer would change in a
hurry, wouldn't it?!  The point being, if everyone else is doing
something that is good, then yeah, doing the same thing ain't a bad
idea :)

If you want to work on a fully-hosted version of Firefox, then hey,
I'd change my tune entirely... showing version numbers would no longer
have any meaning because I'd never be able to change it myself.  If
you want to truly force upgrades all the time without the possibility,
aside from hackish things, of going backward or skipping an upgrade,
then version numbers don't matter... and that's maybe my biggest worry
with this.  This sets the stage for saying all users will be forced to
always be on the most current version regardless of what they want or
need.  The whole dropping of support for anything but the latest
version thing, it could be said, was the first shot in that war and
this dropping of version numbers could be seen as the second, with the
inevitable third being removal of the option to turn off forced
upgrades.  As a developer I generally approve of everyone being
current... aside from the regression breakages I mentioned before,
which could make my life hell if I get bit by them.  As an end-user
though, the bank site example is all the justification I need to say
it'd be a bad idea.  Now, I realize no one is making that argument
here... but it's the implied "yet" that follows that statement that
worries me.  Removing the version number from the About box makes that
change all the more easy to justify and implement.

You know, I've seen some reasonable compromises posted in this
thread... why aren't they being given some consideration?  The simple
adding of a "click here for more detailed info" on the About page
seems to me like a great solution that'll make everyone happy.  Why
wouldn't that answer get the nod?  Unfortunately, the only answer I
can come up with is a conspiracy theory: implementing the "bug" fix as
Alex and Asa want leads to that "forced upgrade" future I outlined.  I
don't want to get all X-Files here, but it's not much of a leap.

Let me close with a simple question... Asa, is this something that is
GOING to happen regardless of what anyone says, or is there real
debate to be had about it?  To me, the answer to that question would
say considerably more about the future of Firefox than whether this
single change is implemented or not.

Take care,
Frank

--
Frank W. Zammetti
Author of "Practical Palm Pre webOS Projects"
  and "Practical Ext JS Projects with Gears"
  and "Practical Dojo Projects"
  and "Practical DWR 2 Projects"
  and "Practical JavaScript, DOM Scripting and Ajax Projects"
  and "Practical Ajax Projects with Java Technology"
  For info on these books and a lot more: zammetti.com