Re: Removing Firefox Version Number

This would increase compatibilty issues by making it more difficult
for web
developers to reproduce and diagnose compatibilty issues with specific
versions.

There is, however, a simple solution which meets the goals of both
sides.

The claim that "what version you are using doesn't matter" simply
isn't true in the real world.
In the real world, different versions are different, so any bug report
needs a version number in order to be useful.
When a user reports that "your site doesn't work with Firefox", it's
essential to know which version of Firefox they experiencing the
problem with.

The "what version of gmail are you using?"  question has a simple
answer - the current version, just like everyone else. There is no
question of which version of gmail is associated with a given
problem.  The day that EVERYONE is using an up-to-the-minute version
of Firefox, version numbers become irrelevant. As long as some users
have different versions, it's important that they can easily determine
which version they have. Currently, about half of Firefox users are
not current.

It is desired that all users be current, and that the About box tell
them so, without a version number.
The simple solution is this:
If they are current, it says so. If they are NOT current, it says
"your version is not current. This is version 4.2.  Click here to
update."

That gives the people who just want to say "you are up to date" their
way, if indeed they are up to date, and allows people to easily
identify a specific version, either as "the current version" or a
number identifying a specific older version.