Re: Removing Firefox Version Number

Steve wrote:
> The most common question users have when they access the About
> dialog is "What version of the software do I have?".  A distant second
> may be "Am I running the latest version of the software?".

You have data for that? I'd love to read it. Can you post a link or at 
least summarize for us what that data says -- especially the really 
important part about why it is that users on the Firefox rapid release 
system are asking themselves what version they have.

The Firefox UX team and I have been thinking about this for some months 
now and, based on our many years of experience and training, we think 
that we've got some pretty good ideas about why a user wants to know 
what Firefox rapid release version she's using.

Based on your usability and design education and experience, or your 
experience and research into this or relevant areas, what do you say is 
the problem a user is trying to solve when she is looking up a Firefox 
version number? What causes a regular mainstream Firefox user who has 
been on the Firefox rapid release track for half a year or so to ask 
that question? Help me understand. She says to herself, "I really need 
to know what version of Firefox I'm using." Why does she say that? What 
does that information help her accomplish? What is the use case?

(It turns out that I have some ability to help shape the Firefox 
experience for hundreds of millions of users and so if you can help me 
understand this particular use case better than I currently do, I can 
help make Firefox better for all of those users.)

As I said above, the UX team and I have thought about this and talked 
about this and we assert (yes, people with lots of education, 
experience, and solid track records in a particular area or profession 
sometimes do that) that a user who is on Firefox's rapid release system 
wants to know what version she is using in order to accomplish primarily 
these two tasks: 1) to determine if she is up to date in order to get 
herself up to date, and 2) to do some troubleshooting.

If those are not the big reasons she wants to know the version number, 
and you know a more important one that's applicable in Firefox's rapid 
release model, please share. With more use cases, we can discuss better 
solutions and that's obviously what you and I are after here.

Thanks,
- A