Re: Removing Firefox Version Number

On 15 aug, 19:40, Asa Dotzler <[email protected]> wrote:

> > Besides, if I ever had an doubts, I can always look right above the
> > text, see, "Firefox 5" then google "What is the latest version of
> > Firefox" and see "Firefox 6 is being released tomorrow" on google
> > news. So I know tomorrow, I can check for updates again, and I'll have
> > the latest.
>
> This is the part that needs to be eliminated. Users should not feel the
> need to compare a number in the About dialog with a number they found on
> the web somewhere.

I disagree with you. It's logical you want people to stop worrying
about version numbers and it's good you're working on that but some
users do want to know the version number and some users do want to
compare it with other numbers and nobody else then those people can
decide if those people do or not. I think it's a very simple scenario
you have: Most users don't mind having the version number displayed
(they just don't care) but some do mind the version number not being
displayed. So if it's there, nobody has a problem, if it's not there
some people have a problem (and you can say they don't but if they
feel they have a problem, they have a problem, it's as simple as
that).

> You cannot roll back Firefox versions without losing support. You get
> automatic updates with Firefox unless you've disabled that feature which
> you absolutely should not unless you're trying to get exploited.
>
> No one is taking these things away. You can roll back. You can turn off
> updates. It's just a foolish thing to do in all but very exceptional
> cases and we discourage it.

well, I don't know if you've ever checked comments on articles about
firefox but to many people seem to be willing to be at risk of being
exploited just to stay with an older version.
most people just don't like change, especially if features or
information they like gets ditched (many people for example liked the
keyword.URL to be http://www.google.com/search?ie=UTF-8&sourceid=navclient&gfns=1&q=
and many people liked the menu-bar and many people like to be able to
see the version number; sure al those changes can be undone, but some
of those people don't know how to do that, or are just not willing to
go trough a lot of trouble just to regain what they already have) so
if you are making changes that don't obviously benefit (almost) all
users, many users will find it annoying. Of course the fear of changes
shouldn't make firefox completely freeze all it's features, but it is
a factor that must always be considered (I'm sure you did, but I ask
you to consider it again).

off-topic:
if you're going to implement a date instead of a version number (as
some recommended), please use the local date notation. In the Dutch
aurora version for example it says 7.0a2 (2011-08-15) (jjjj-mm-dd)
while in the Netherlands we use (dd-mm-jjjj) so it should be 7.0a2
(15-08-2011). I know this isn't really the place to say that, but just
in case you decide to use the date: translate the date to.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Date_format_by_country