Re: Removing Firefox Version Number

On Aug 22, 1:10 am, Asa Dotzler <[email protected]> wrote:
> Isaac Stitz wrote:
> > On Aug 20, 5:16 pm, Asa Dotzler<[email protected]>  wrote:
> >> Adam Kowalczyk wrote:
>
> >>   >  Allow me to chime in, as I made the same point in another post but it
> >>   >  went unanswered.
>
> >>   >  Your answer doesn't address the problem. He heard Firefox 15 was
> >>   >  have process-per-tab and he wants to find out if he's running that
> >>   >  version yet. Telling that he's got the latest version, without
> >>   >  specifying its number, does not help him.
>
> >> Hi Adam. Two answers. First, if Firefox 15 has shipped, he's already
> >> running it or will be as soon as he opens the About window.  If it
> >> hasn't shipped, he's not running it. He doesn't have to wonder.
>
> > Yes I do, because I have no way of knowing when Mozilla actually
> > pushes FF15 out to updaters.  Like I said before, what if Mozilla is
> > pushing out the update later in the day or the release even gets
> > delayed.  Since I don't know what Mozilla's current definition of "up-
> > to-date" means, "You are up-to-date" is not a helpful piece of
> > information here.  The version number is.
>
> Most people do not need to know down to the minute when a browser
> release has happened. If it's not shipped yet, they can't use it. If it
> has shipped, they'll have it.

You're missing that people hear about new features not just in release
announcements but before they are released.

> Power users are quite capable of finding the Troubleshooting window. It
> is the hundreds of millions of not-power users that we're trying to
> optimize for.

Well, hundreds of millions of not-power users do not open the About
window.

I can't imagine that a powser user who's not directly involved with
the Mozilla community would think of invoking the Troubleshooting page
in order to find the version number.

> > In other words, we have to modify the browser to make it behave
> > correctly.  For the relatively few people who know this is required,
> > this is only a nuisance.  However, for even power users unaware of
> > this change, it is a big problem.
>
> Power users adapt their UIs and to new UIs. That's one of the defining
> characteristics of power users.

They may adapt. They may also resist to adapt when they think the
change is stupid.
Anyway, the fact that they can adapt doesn't mean we should make them
adapt all the time.