Re: Removing Firefox Version Number

It seems to me a lot of assumptions are being made :

"Users don't need to know what version they're on"
"Users just need to know if they're on the latest version"
"Users will go to the About Firefox window to find out"

If the user is savvy enough to know about the "About Firefox" dialog,
I think we can reasonably assume he's going to expect to find a
certain amount of information there, *including* the version number.

On the other hand, if the user is unsavvy but somehow happens upon the
"About Firefox" dialog, I'm okay with assuming that he won't be
impressed by the version number string. But do we assume that he will
*mind* it being there or become confused or any other "negative
impact" like that ?

I think we should not confuse "Firefox users" with "People who know
about, and use the About Firefox dialog". The latter is clearly a
minority IMHO, but the majority of people *in* that minority expects
to find a version number string in that box.

May I suggest an exercise to all the fine people debating this
problem :

Draw a Venn diagram representing the distribution of the following
groups of people :

- Firefox users.
- Firefox users who care and want to know if they're on the latest
version.
- Firefox users who care and want to know if they're on the latest
version, and are savvy enough to open the About Firefox dialog to find
out.
- Firefox users who care and want to know if they're on the latest
version, are savvy enough to open the About Firefox dialog to find
out, and will be satisfied by a simple "Firefox is up to date"
message.
- Firefox users who care and want to know if they're on the latest
version, are savvy enough to open the About Firefox dialog to find
out, and will still want to double-check the information.
- Computer users who know and use the "About <Program>" dialogs.
- Computer users who know and use the "About <Program>" dialogs, and
expect to find a version number string there.

You can also draw in these two bonus categories :
- People who think that bug 678775 is valid
- People who think that bug 678775 is invalid

Discuss.