Re: Removing Firefox Version Number

On Aug 16, 11:02 am, Robert Kaiser <[email protected]> wrote:
> Tyler Bletsch schrieb:
>
> > On Aug 15, 7:42 pm, Asa Dotzler<[email protected]>  wrote:
> >> Tyler Bletsch wrote:
> >>> This response is dismissive to the point of being disingenuous.  I'm
> >>> sure you're upset that this has led to such a public backlash
>
> >> Not at all. I've been working on Mozilla for 12 years. I'm used to it.
>
> > As what, a professional troll?
>
> Asa is one of the handful of people who started the experiment that
> became Firefox.
>

That's great.  Maybe his next great experiment can be to build some
basic conversational skills.

Robert, thank you for coming to this thread and providing the first
actual arguments for the proposed change we've seen.  Now we can have
a dialog.  I think part of the reason this is generating so much heat
is that users are still angry and unsatisfied with the rapid release
schedule to begin with, and from the user perspective, we haven't
gotten any resolution or relief beyond "that's the way it is now".
The other Tyler makes this point perfectly:

On Aug 16, 12:51 pm, Tyler Downer <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> Well then, let's do it this way. Prove that you can update 95% of All
> Firefox users (I'd be happy with 90% even) within a reasonable time
> frame, make the update as seamless as possible, and without
> significant backlash from users and the community. Figure out a LTS
> plan for Enterprise (may I suggest picking one release a year to be
> LTS, and providing security and stability updates for it). THEN we can
> talk about removing the version number from About (even though I think
> it is a bad idea still) and moving away from "versions" as you like to
> say. Right now, you are putting the cart before the hose, when you
> don't even have a cart.

This is 100% correct.

To the point about Firefox support staff being okay with Help|
Troubleshooting, that misses the point.  The vast majority of Firefox
support doesn't come from trained staff focusing on the browser, but
from informal interactions with "that computer guy I know".  When you
ask the average user how to find the version number, the answer is
Help|About.  Deviating from this near-universal standard is simply
needless complication.

On Aug 16, 1:27 pm, Asa Dotzler <[email protected]> wrote:
> Now you're confused because you heard about 5.0.1 and 6 and your browser
> says 5 and you're wondering what's up. You were up to date and yet
> you're left thinking you're not because of these mostly meaningless and
> awfully confusing numbers. That's unfortunate. Version numbers are
> confusing and caused you unnecessary anxiety.
>
> - A

Update notifications were implemented in a way counter to user
expectation.  This is a user experience failure, and "version numbers"
as a general concept are not the root cause, the update policy was.
Thousands of locally installed software packages are updated by
version number every day; it is simply not the case that version
numbers are seen as a problem in general.  You have made an
extraordinary claim, "version numbers are meaningless and should be
hidden", which diverges from the vast majority of the software
establishment, so the onus is on you to provide extraordinary evidence
to support this claim.  This has not been done.

As a side note, do you honestly read your post as anything other than
condescending arrogance?  Are you surprised that your posts in this
thread are met with anger and disbelief, while the posts of your
colleagues like Robert are met with reasoned discussion?  Please, at
least try to consider the opposing point of view, and if you still
disagree, respond with logic and evidence, not condescension.