5 ms·

That is something that pisses me off immensely. If you see version 2024.2 you can immediately recognize it is a date, but 24.2 might be a date, might be a numer

That is something that pisses me off immensely. If you see version 2024.2 you can immediately recognize it is a date, but 24.2 might be a date, might be a numerical version number, who knows. Is it so costly to write the year in full?

Dalewyn 3y ago
Windows 11 22H2. Because writing Windows 11 2022 like any sane man would be far too unreasonable. No, the H2 doesn't mean anything anymore. Once upon a time it stood for "Half", with H1 standing for "First Half" and H2 for "Second Half" of whatever year in two digits. Of course, I still find this nonsense far more preferable to the bullshit that is the Chrome Version System where the entire number means jack shit.
- satvikpendem 3y ago
  > Of course, I still find this nonsense far more preferable to the bullshit that is the Chrome Version System where the entire number means jack shit. Why should it mean anything? It's just a succeeding number for every iteration, I find that vastly better than using dates or point based releases.
  - Dalewyn 3y ago
    Using a datecode shows immediately how old a given release is, which is useful information. I don't know how old Chrome 101 or Firefox 89 is; I know how old Windows 11 22H2 or LibreOffice 24.2 is. Using a traditional Major.Minor.Revision.Build version number shows how much of the codebase is common between different versions. I can expect something made for one Major version to work in any other same Major version release, I can expect only a Revision or Build increment to include only very minor changes; likewise I can expect breaking changes between different Major versions. I don't know what Chrome 101 is other than it's after Chrome 100; I know NT6.0, 6.1, 6.2, and 6.3 are largely interchangable.
    - satvikpendem 3y ago
      For an end user product like Chrome or Firefox, the version number does not matter as much, it's really only useful for developers who might depend on specific versions.
      - ozim 3y ago
        This time and age I don’t believe anyone really depends on specific version of browser. You could pull that maybe for a month. Longer than that and your customers will drag you through hot coals that you fix your stuff and move forward because you block security updates they need to install. Unless of course you have it somewhere deep in company and it is IE8 app that no one can update. But if you do anything public or SaaS platform you probably just fix stuff to support new versions or you are out of the game.
    - amadeuspagel 3y ago
      Chrome and Firefox are released so often that if the version number were a date it would have to include the day.
      - cpeterso 3y ago
        Including the day isn’t even enough because Mozilla actually releases two Firefox “Nightly” builds a day, one every 12 hours or so.
- phpisthebest 3y ago
  Then of course windows 11 22H2 is actually Windows Version 10.0.22621, and windows 10 22H2 is Windows Version 10.0.19045
- fomine3 3y ago
  MS start using H1/H2 for version since 20H2. An assumption is that "2009" is confusing or causes compatibility issue with older Windows release (Embedded 2009).
  - orra 3y ago
    That feels like an excuse. Windows compatibility mode is mature. The relevant APIs could easily return different values to buggy software.
TillE 3y ago
Ubuntu is the first place I encountered this convention. You might think that Ubuntu 22.04 and 22.10 are closely related because the vast majority of software uses something that loosely resembles semver, but no, they're two different major releases. Very confusing.
- probablynish 3y ago
  This is the first time I realized that Ubuntu version numbers were linked to dates. Mind blown.
  - Tijdreiziger 3y ago
    Yes, and they always end in .04 or .10, because Ubuntu always releases in April and October.
    - deciduously 3y ago
      Except that one time it came in June - Dapper Drake was 6.06.
  - joshxyz 3y ago
    same lol my understanding too is .04 memans lts and .10 means current like the nodejs release cycle it's relieving to realize 04 and 10 are the months haha
    - mkl 3y ago
      Only every second .04 is an LTS release. 22.04, 20.04, etc. https://ubuntu.com/about/release-cycle https://ubuntu.com/about/release-cycle
- goku12 3y ago
  Your comment made me look at the history of both Ubuntu and Semver. It looks like the earliest specification of Semver dates to 2011, while the first release of Ubuntu was in 2004. I remember being confused about how to version code until I encountered semver (Ubuntu scheme was the one I used for a short while). It's possible that Canonical was faced with a similar choice and decided to make one up. While schemes like semver did exist before it, they were not so ubiquitous and didn't have a well-defined meaning like semver does.
totetsu 3y ago
and then completely disregarding that version number that is shown easily to you, and making you remember which animal adjective matches to it when you want to download any file.
- tjoff 3y ago
  The number of times I've had to google what the code-name actually refers to is mind-boggling. There should at the very least be an included little cli-app that you can query and list versions.
- behringer 3y ago
  I love the numbers. Hate the animal names. Guess thats the programmer in me.
benj111 3y ago
what info does 7.6 give you? If it's important enough to you that you keep track of libre office version numbers you'll probably remember it's a year. If not, it's still no worse than the old system, so what's the issue.

Dalewyn 3y ago

Windows 11 22H2. Because writing Windows 11 2022 like any sane man would be far too unreasonable. No, the H2 doesn't mean anything anymore. Once upon a time it stood for "Half", with H1 standing for "First Half" and H2 for "Second Half" of whatever year in two digits. Of course, I still find this nonsense far more preferable to the bullshit that is the Chrome Version System where the entire number means jack shit.

satvikpendem 3y ago
> Of course, I still find this nonsense far more preferable to the bullshit that is the Chrome Version System where the entire number means jack shit. Why should it mean anything? It's just a succeeding number for every iteration, I find that vastly better than using dates or point based releases.
- Dalewyn 3y ago
  Using a datecode shows immediately how old a given release is, which is useful information. I don't know how old Chrome 101 or Firefox 89 is; I know how old Windows 11 22H2 or LibreOffice 24.2 is. Using a traditional Major.Minor.Revision.Build version number shows how much of the codebase is common between different versions. I can expect something made for one Major version to work in any other same Major version release, I can expect only a Revision or Build increment to include only very minor changes; likewise I can expect breaking changes between different Major versions. I don't know what Chrome 101 is other than it's after Chrome 100; I know NT6.0, 6.1, 6.2, and 6.3 are largely interchangable.
  - satvikpendem 3y ago
    For an end user product like Chrome or Firefox, the version number does not matter as much, it's really only useful for developers who might depend on specific versions.
    - ozim 3y ago
      This time and age I don’t believe anyone really depends on specific version of browser. You could pull that maybe for a month. Longer than that and your customers will drag you through hot coals that you fix your stuff and move forward because you block security updates they need to install. Unless of course you have it somewhere deep in company and it is IE8 app that no one can update. But if you do anything public or SaaS platform you probably just fix stuff to support new versions or you are out of the game.
  - amadeuspagel 3y ago
    Chrome and Firefox are released so often that if the version number were a date it would have to include the day.
    - cpeterso 3y ago
      Including the day isn’t even enough because Mozilla actually releases two Firefox “Nightly” builds a day, one every 12 hours or so.
phpisthebest 3y ago
Then of course windows 11 22H2 is actually Windows Version 10.0.22621, and windows 10 22H2 is Windows Version 10.0.19045
fomine3 3y ago
MS start using H1/H2 for version since 20H2. An assumption is that "2009" is confusing or causes compatibility issue with older Windows release (Embedded 2009).
- orra 3y ago
  That feels like an excuse. Windows compatibility mode is mature. The relevant APIs could easily return different values to buggy software.

TillE 3y ago

Ubuntu is the first place I encountered this convention. You might think that Ubuntu 22.04 and 22.10 are closely related because the vast majority of software uses something that loosely resembles semver, but no, they're two different major releases. Very confusing.

probablynish 3y ago
This is the first time I realized that Ubuntu version numbers were linked to dates. Mind blown.
- Tijdreiziger 3y ago
  Yes, and they always end in .04 or .10, because Ubuntu always releases in April and October.
  - deciduously 3y ago
    Except that one time it came in June - Dapper Drake was 6.06.
- joshxyz 3y ago
  same lol my understanding too is .04 memans lts and .10 means current like the nodejs release cycle it's relieving to realize 04 and 10 are the months haha
  - mkl 3y ago
    Only every second .04 is an LTS release. 22.04, 20.04, etc. https://ubuntu.com/about/release-cycle https://ubuntu.com/about/release-cycle
goku12 3y ago
Your comment made me look at the history of both Ubuntu and Semver. It looks like the earliest specification of Semver dates to 2011, while the first release of Ubuntu was in 2004. I remember being confused about how to version code until I encountered semver (Ubuntu scheme was the one I used for a short while). It's possible that Canonical was faced with a similar choice and decided to make one up. While schemes like semver did exist before it, they were not so ubiquitous and didn't have a well-defined meaning like semver does.

totetsu 3y ago

and then completely disregarding that version number that is shown easily to you, and making you remember which animal adjective matches to it when you want to download any file.

tjoff 3y ago
The number of times I've had to google what the code-name actually refers to is mind-boggling. There should at the very least be an included little cli-app that you can query and list versions.
behringer 3y ago
I love the numbers. Hate the animal names. Guess thats the programmer in me.

benj111 3y ago

what info does 7.6 give you? If it's important enough to you that you keep track of libre office version numbers you'll probably remember it's a year. If not, it's still no worse than the old system, so what's the issue.