Re: Removing Firefox Version Number

On Aug 20, 11:03 pm, Prestwick <[email protected]> wrote:
> In fact I worked for a major corporation in the payment processing industry that was slowly transitioning to Firefox yet wanted to strictly control the updates that got to it and thus required the end user (who 9 times out of 10 was barely computer literate beyond using outlook and excel) to report what version of Firefox they had.
>

Wait ... so the company wanted to strictly control the updates yet
they were relying on the end user to report something .... Why should
the end user have to report anything ..? If you want strict control
over something _you_ mandate whatever version you want them to use and
thus know exactly what version they're using.

>
> On a final note why exactly is this change needed? At a time when users are crying out for a faster and more convenient browsing experience, better integration with social media and cross platform features Mozilla has managed to sweep all of that aside and set the subject of the debate solely on what should and should not be in the about section? How exactly is that helpful or even relevant to developers or the end user?

Quite the contrary ... I want LESS stuff thrown on the browser, i
don't want better integration with social media or whatever gimmicks
people i want a stable, slim and fast browser that does just that,
browse the internet. Everything else should come from the web itself
and if closer integration is need that's why there is an Extension
Platform.

First of all let me say that i do understand the motivation behind
this move and i actually "approve" it in part, most users simple don't
care what version they are using and the majority of internet users
are non tech savvy users that just use what is put before them and as
such this move is quite understandable considering the new release
model Mozilla is trying to implement but i also understand why people
are complaining about it ( although i'll be honest and point out that
80% of the complaints i've read here are mainly "i don't like change
so i'll just make up stuff to complain about" ).

I do agree that the current idea/implementation is silly and in the
end it's just shifting the version number from Help > About to Help >
Troubleshooting, what's the point in this ? Couldn't they just add a
"What version am i running ?" ( or something simpler )  on the bottom
of the About window and when clicked open a about:troubleshooting
page ? Just like you _already_ have for about:license or
about:rights ? This is just a solution asking for a problem ....

I've always been running nightly builds, what is called today as
"aurora channel" so i already have this system "versionless"
thingamagingy running or sorts and haven't add a problem that i
couldn't fix in seconds ... I simple can't understand why people are
complaining about such things like this one instead of complaining/
demanding a standard/STABLE extensions API/platform so that my
extensions don't stop functioning/break every time i upgrade
( although i believe this happens more because of the current flawed
"whitelist" type system that Firefox uses instead of the extension
being really broken ).

Instead of "whitelisting" extensions to a certain version do the
opposite and "blacklist" extensions that are known to be _really
broken_ with that particular version ( although i think i've read that
you're already doing something like this ? ), have the "Add-on
Compatibility Reporter" come by default with Firefox and let people
decide which extensions to further disable and report that they are
bad ( or good ) with the firefox version they are using.