Re: Removing Firefox Version Number

On Aug 16, 12:53 pm, Asa Dotzler <[email protected]> wrote:

> We're doing far better than the bleak picture you paint when you include
> 3.6 users which are not yet a part of this change.

If you'll pardon my stepping in here for a moment.

I'm currently helping develop and maintain a Perl/Catalyst/ExtJS MVC
cloud app.  One of the problems we've continually encountered on the
browser end is that upgrades will sometimes break the frontend, e.g.,
mozilla 3.6.x works fine, whereas 4.0 doesn't work at all.  I have no
idea
whether this is because 3.6.x was overly forgiving about bad JS code,
or whether the problem is in mozilla, and ultimately, we don't really
care.
The frontend code is a byzantine monster relying upon a bunch of
packages which are no longer maintained, and we do not live in the
ideal world in which we have sufficient time to maintain them.

At the very least, our clients have to be able to tell us which
browser
version they are running on, and occasionally, use an older version
until these issues are resolved (whether fixing things on our end, or
waiting for the next release if the problem is on the browser end).
And I'm certain I'm not the only developer in this situation.

There is also the issue of add-ons, which has no doubt already been
raised.

I respect the desire to make Firefox "more like gmail", moving
control of the upgrade process away from the end user.  If that's the
direction you, as a development team, wish to go, that is of course
well within your rights.  So I really hope I don't come off angry,
I'm
certainly not, I'm just trying to point out there are those of us who
may have to switch to another browser if this becomes policy.  I do
understand you may be more focused on home than enterprise
users, but sometimes there isn't a whole lot of distinction.

Thanks for listening.
B