The Inside Track on Firefox Development.

« Our Next Challenge? | Main | Miscommunications »

April 10, 2006

Firefox Version Numbers

Mike Beltzner explains Firefox version numbering. i.e. Firefox 3 RTM is not "out".

Posted by ben at April 10, 2006 8:38 AM

Comments

I saw a downloadable link for "Firefox 3.0a1" on Addict3d.org and I was surprised. I've contacted them saying that version 3 is not out. I hope they pull it out.

Posted by: Walid Matar at April 10, 2006 11:39 AM

Hi Ben,

My name is Phil Bostwick. I am working with Satellite Media on an exciting television project that we would love you to be part of.

The show is called 'World at Our Feet' and is a 6-part series showcasing successful, creative kiwis living overseas and the bustling cities they currently call home. It will be an amusing and insightful magazine style show with an intrepid travel twist and a distinctly New Zealand flavour.

The show is about inspirational artists, musicians, actors, filmmakers, fashion designers, writers and creative industry types who have flown the coup in search of bigger things and are now leading figures in their chosen field and their adopted cities. They also have strong connections with New Zealand.

'World at Our Feet' will be presented by myself, a budding writer, actor, DJ, photographer and adventurer.

We are currently in talks with New Zealand TV networks and other creative types such as director Lee Tamahori, opera singer Jonathan Lemalu, actor Melanie Lynskey and artist Max Gimblett.

We would dearly love you to be part of this series as a kind of tour guide to your life and the city you live in. We would require a day with you to shoot an in depth profile including interviews and behind the scenes footage of you at work, home and play.

At this stage we are looking at shooting around September this year. Please let me know if you're interested and available.

email me at philbostwick@xtra.co.nz

Regards,

Phil Bostwick

Posted by: Phil Bostwick at April 10, 2006 3:54 PM

The fact that it is hard to explain maybe is a good indication that the name was a bad idea. Versioning schemes that need a lecture on their semantics should perhaps be replaced by something more sensible. For the non initiated firefox 3.0 a1 reads as 3.0 alpha 1. If that's not what it is, rename it because journalists are unlikely to read the faq.

I'd recommend putting the word nightly build in the file name in addition to maybe the word untested and the branch name: so untested-nightly-build-1.9branch-.zip noone can confuse that with 3.0 alpha 1.

Posted by: jilles van gurp at April 11, 2006 5:32 AM

Journalists will be journalists and some would most likely, "dig" deeper to find that it is in fact Firefox 3.0a1. The harder it is to find, the bigger the story and exclusive would be.

Posted by: santosj at April 11, 2006 12:13 PM

©1997-2006 Ben Goodger. All Rights Reserved.
Opinions expressed here are my own, and not those of any organization that I may be affiliated with.
Reload icon is © Stephen Horlander;
Firefox logo is by Jon Hicks, and is a trademark of The Mozilla Foundation.
GetFirefox buttons are from rakaz