Re: Removing Firefox Version Number

On 08/15/2011 11:35 PM, Asa Dotzler wrote:
>
>
> Tyler Downer wrote:
>> Asa, would you mind clearly, and with supporting data, tests, metrics,
>> show What problem this is addressing, Who is affected by it, What our
>> goal is (long-term and short-term, and not generic terms like "getting
>> rid of versions") and How this solution addresses the problem better
>> than the solutions we already have in place. I truly would like to
>> know the clear answers to all of these questions, I may not be seeing
>> data that you are (Maybe 50% of users sit on About all day wondering
>> when Firefox last checked for updates, I don't know), but I need
>> concrete information, not generic buzzwords.
>
> It's simple. We are moving to a release model that makes version 
> numbers meaningless and unactionable for consumers. In that model, 
> version numbers go away.
>
> - A
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I understand the moving to a new release model but I feel that the 
timing, of removing the version, is not the right. There are many cases, 
which are written in this thread, where the version does matter. So, I 
think that it will be better go on and  make other more important 
changes for reaching the new release model, than remove the version 
number and confuse temporarily the users. When the model is successful, 
then we can remove the version number from anywhere, because it will not 
matter anymore if it is there or not.

[relative off-topic]
Anyway, if the version number is finally to be removed from the about 
firefox dialog, we should inform users where to find it and not let them 
just to discover it, like the UI changes from 3.6 to 4, when the users 
wanted to downgrade just because they didn't know and they weren't 
informed how to customize their toolbars. Unfortunately the UI is the 
first thing that users care about and if we don't help them with the 
changes then they will be disappointed. Another recent example of users 
disappointment and confusion was the removed arrows next to the back and 
forward buttons (back and forward history). The users weren't informed 
about this change and they didn't know how to have this functionality 
and this was very disturbing until they found a solution.
[/relative off-topic]

fredy