Well look at it this way: If we all switched to speaking German, would that rid the world of bad ideas? [Granted there's some evidence that language does affec

Well look at it this way: If we all switched to speaking German, would that rid the world of bad ideas? [Granted there's some evidence that language does affect thought patterns both for good and for ill, but overall I'm going to say my answer is...] No. Someone expressing a bad idea in German is still an idiot, except he's more of a Dummkopf. So I think the problem with this piece is that the title and part of the argument seem to assert that versioning doesn't guarantee anything about package quality or "breaking-ness" (which is true). But then it goes on to assert that this other versioning system would help change that. I doubt it. Naming and versioning are just descriptors of a thing, and may not accurately describe the thing. In other words, a turd by any other name still smells like a turd. The package itself is the thing. The only way to know anything about it is to test it with your own stuff before you migrate to it. Therefore always pin the last version that works, and when you become aware of a newer version, test with it, read the changelog, make a decision. Treat it like your own software, in other words. Because you're making it part of your own software - the software you'll be held responsible for.