Re: Removing Firefox Version Number

On Aug 15, 9:35 pm, Asa Dotzler <[email protected]> wrote:
> 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.

Implicit is the idea that consumers should never see anything that
might be meaningless or unactionable to them.
That idea is certainly not true in general -- some consumers pay a
premium for watches with a visible mechanism, but I'm sure nobody
would claim that the cogs and escapements are meaningful or actionable
to the majority of the people who pay extra to see them. So why is it
true here? I personally don't see how a consumer who doesn't care
would hurt himself on being confronted with this mysterious thing
called a "version number."

My data point is: I rarely look at the About dialogue, and when I do
the ONLY reason is to check the version number. I expect About: to be
a purely informative dialogue, I don't expect it to make any changes,
such as an update. Have you considered putting this update stuff under
an item called "update." I don't see how putting "update"
functionality in the non-descriptive "about" dialogue is more
discoverable than menu items that just do what they claim to.

How do other users use the "About" dialogue, if at all? Does anybody
bring that dialogue up who doesn't want to find the version number?

Small suggestion: consider announcing the date & time of the last
update, rather than the time since the last update. I'll always
believe the date and time, I might not believe "20 minutes ago,"
especially if the dialogue has not just been opened. Big suggestion:
consider that "about" is the wrong place for this update stuff.

Jez.