Re: Linux and Software Freedom

On Aug 17, 11:36 am, Asa Dotzler <[email protected]> wrote:
[snip]
> Maybe I didn't say this well.  I'm asserting that the purpose of the
> *version number* in the about dialog for most users is to determine if a
> user is up to date, not that the purpose of the About dialog is to
> determine if a user is up to date. The About dialog also tells users the
> name of the product and that's a really important user case as well. The
> about dialog has several use cases, but the use case for the version
> number in the about dialog of Firefox on rapid release cadences is to
> find out if you're on the latest version or not.
>
I think this is the real disconnect between your view and the view of
many others here (myself included). While you assert that the version
number is something most users use to tell if they are on the latest
version, that is something that I haven't observed personally and
certainly not why I go to help->about. I personally go there to see
what version I'm on, not to see if it's up to date. As an example, if
I'm in an older firefox I can use control+e to go to the search box,
on newer version I use control+k. Now this is just one example, but
the idea is that I use the version as a data point, not necessarily
something I'm going to compare to some random posting about the latest
version. Assuming however, that you are right, and this is the major
use case, would you disagree that there is ANY other use case? I
explained one related to extensions (in an earlier post), and one
related to keyboard shortcuts, but even if the use case is just having
another data point, why would we want to remove that? I'm not
suggesting you don't check for updates in here if you think that's
what people want (although I disagree that an about box is where it
should be done, that seems to be a trend now) and then tell them it's
either up to date or not. I (and others) are simply suggesting that in
addition to this you leave the version number here. In a worse case
scenario, possibly accessible by hitting a 'more info' button or some
other such thing. Now you've got a quick and easy way to get 'most
users' use case right (finding out if they are up to date) and you are
still providing those who have a different use case the information
they desire in the place they want it.