Mozilla Plans to Drop Version Numbers from Firefox

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soccerdocks

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This is WAY worse than their marketing scheme of quickly updating version numbers. I agree that they needed to move to a faster update schedule. But call it FF4.1 not FF5.
 

_Cubase_

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I can imagine their creative meetings:

Guy 1: "Let's rapidly update version numbers!"
Guy 2: "That may be hard to keep track of"
Guy 1: "Good point, we'll remove them all together"
Guy 2: "Then how are people going to know what version they are using?"
Guy 1: "We will name them after Animals!"
Guy 2: "Like Apple?"
Guy 1: "That's a fruit, dumbass!"
Guy 2: *facepalm*
 

bison88

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This is just as if not even more stupid than doing the Google Chrome thing adding a version number every 6 weeks. Goddamn, what the hell is wrong with you people? Who are you hiring as product manager because they need fired.
 

Vampyrbyte

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Am I the only person who thinks this makes sense?
If Firefox is going to have a fast release cycle, why keep incrementing the numbers everywhere. Why not just have the three versions like they do, and use the release date as a version number.
 

TunaSoda

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I agree they should drop the version numbers if they plan on releasing a ton of updates, would you want a company like AVG to have a version number for each virus def update? same thing no? Maybe they should call it FF2011 ;)
 

Benihana

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They could just give a release date for certain features instead of a specific version. Of course, this will mean that they'd have to keep things running on schedule. But it could work!
 

memadmax

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Sigh. I'll give them one more "version" before it's time to dump them. If they don't bring er' down to a 50 meg foot print like I get with IE then so sad panda....
 

walter87

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Firefox 3.6 is still running smooth for me.
As an added measure incase I never need to reinstall my OS, I'm keeping a backup of the v3.6 install file.

I got a feeling Mozila will eventualy remove it all together and force people into using their latest...if thats the case I guess Chrome or IE would be my new browser.
 

delazaren

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This is a brilliant idea. For people who update all the time and have the latest version of FF it make no difference if it is called 4.1, 5, 2012, XIX or whatever. All it matters is that you have FF and its latest version.
 

randomizer

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[citation][nom]killerclick[/nom]what next - the address bar? Idiots.[/citation]
I thought that idea was Google's?

[citation][nom]walter87[/nom]I got a feeling Mozila will eventualy remove it all together and force people into using their latest...if thats the case I guess Chrome or IE would be my new browser.[/citation]

Er... Chrome already does this, and has for a long time.

Personally I don't think this change is necessary. Most people don't really know what version they're running until they get hit with one of those first run web pages that tell them all the latest gimmicks with their newly updated browser.
 

enterco

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If removal of the version numbers help using extensions and no longer breaks compatibility, it a good idea. Otherwise, not.
 

malphas

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I'm still perfectly happy with how Firefox behaves, the GUI changes (after I've tweaked them heavily), etc. What's most annoying is this insecure design to keep up with Chrome by using artificially large version number jumps, which would otherwise just be routine point releases, and now hiding them from the about dialogue is just asinine.
 
G

Guest

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This reminds me of AMD when it was losing the battle with Intel over CPU speeds. So it decided to change its model numbers to not reflect at what speed they ran at. I think it was a desperate move for AMD to cover up its failings in developing its CPU's and I think Firefox is doing the same.
 

cornandbeans

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WTF!? I have been using Firefox for 3 years but I have been disappointed recently. Version number jump (they should use 4.0.5 for minimal update then 4.1, 4.2) and now, dropping them? I don't get it.
 
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