Mozilla has decided to remove the Firefox version number from the software's "About" dialog box. Eliminating the version number is apparently a sign that Mozilla is "moving to a more Web-like convention." Firefox users are not particularly thrilled by the decision and are making their voices heard.
The full quote by Asa Dotzler, a director of Firefox came from a thread in the mozilla.dev.usability discussion group this weekend.
"We're moving to a more Web-like convention where it's simply not important what version you're using as long as it's the latest version," wrote Dotzler. "We have a goal to make version numbers irrelevant to our consumer audience."
Version numbers are clearly not irrelevant to users who post in that discussion group. The thread had 240 responses as of Wednesday, which is a fairly large number for a discussion group on Mozilla's site. Many of the complaints from users seemed to center around the fact that most software has always had identifying version numbers in some About box somewhere. That argument boils down to, "but we've always done it this way."
Other users were arguing that sites like Facebook and Gmail don't use identifying version numbers because they aren't stored locally on a user's computer. Basically those contesting Dotzler's "Web-like convention" are making the point that if software is stored on a computer it should have a version number clearly identified.
Some of the comments weren't just critical but angry. One user, going by the name EnviroChem, is displeased not only by the decision to remove the version number but seemingly by every decision Mozilla has made regarding Firefox in recent months.
"Removing the version number from the About window is one of the most asinine proposals for Firefox in a year filled with asinine Firefox decisions," wrote "EnviroChem" on Monday. "Are you intentionally trying to kill off Firefox? With the decisions being made lately, this certainly seems to be the case."
This drama didn't stay confined to the discussion group. Bugzilla, Mozilla's bug tracking tool, also saw some action from the debate. Dotzler logged the About dialog change into Bugzilla in seemingly a fit of frustration over the whole discussion group debate. "I relinquish this bug to the mob. Have fun." Dotzler also noted during the discussion group thread that users could still find the version number in the "Troubleshooting Information" found in the browser's Help menu.
This idea of not identifying the browser by its version number but instead just calling it Firefox isn't exactly new or thrilling. Google has always just called their browser Chrome with no version number in the name. Chrome does still identify its version number in the About dialog box though.
Are you upset by the shift away from versioning Firefox in the About dialog? It seems like a somewhat trivial change to me especially considering the information can still be pulled from another location in the software. Is it necessary for companies to identify the version number for all software even if it's up to date? Tell us what you think in the comments.
