4 ms·

That only makes sense for users who are programmers. Non-technical users have got no idea what you're talking about. All they see is the UI and the presented fe

That only makes sense for users who are programmers. Non-technical users have got no idea what you're talking about. All they see is the UI and the presented feature sets.

thaumaturgy 14y ago
What kind of version numbering would make more sense for non-technical users?
- DeepDuh 14y ago
  Microsoft Office "The version to buy" edition. Followed by Microsoft Office "The version to buy, now for real, don't even think about getting anything else" edition.
- jmillikin 14y ago
  Year-Index. LibreOffice 2012-1 is the first release in 2012, 2012-2 is the second release, 2013-1 is the first in 2013, etc. Depending on release schedule, the second number can be the month (like Ubuntu) or dropped altogether.
  - thaumaturgy 14y ago
    OK, sure. That seems smart, I hadn't thought of that. It would still be nice (for me) to know how carefully I need to read the changelog and whether it's a 30 second or half-day upgrade, but for most people, I can see how year-release would work better.
  - FaddiCat 14y ago
    Microsoft was doing that with their consumer software for a while. The biggest issue is that people think the software is out of date as soon as the next year comes along.
    - kijin 14y ago
      With an actively developed and rapidly changing piece of free software, version 2012 actually would be outdated (and possibly insecure) by mid-2013. If the perception of outdatedness causes more users to upgrade in a timely fashion, I think it might be a good thing. Especially since you don't need to pay anybody $300+ for the new version. Having said that, LibreOffice seriously needs a more seamless update experience for consumers. Re-downloading a 100MB installer and re-installing every time a minor update is published gets tired rather quickly.
  - deleted 14y ago
    [deleted]
ars 14y ago
Breakage (and bugs) for users.
lhnn 14y ago
Windows 7 Windows 8 iPhone 3 iPhone 3GS (minor update) etc.
- ZeroGravitas 14y ago
  The Apple S models generally keep the outer shell similar, but introduce completely new innards.
- FooBarWidget 14y ago
  And notice that none of them break compatibility upon incrementing their major version number. They sure don't follow semantic versioning.
Jare 14y ago
Architectural changes in a consumer product almost always bring along a new set of requirements and user-facing features: platform/OS, performance, UI design, file formats, updating policy, etc. as well as undesired bugs and regressions.

That only makes sense for users who are programmers. Non-technical users have got no idea what you're talking about. All they see is the UI and the presented feature sets.

thaumaturgy 14y ago

What kind of version numbering would make more sense for non-technical users?

DeepDuh 14y ago
Microsoft Office "The version to buy" edition. Followed by Microsoft Office "The version to buy, now for real, don't even think about getting anything else" edition.
jmillikin 14y ago
Year-Index. LibreOffice 2012-1 is the first release in 2012, 2012-2 is the second release, 2013-1 is the first in 2013, etc. Depending on release schedule, the second number can be the month (like Ubuntu) or dropped altogether.
- thaumaturgy 14y ago
  OK, sure. That seems smart, I hadn't thought of that. It would still be nice (for me) to know how carefully I need to read the changelog and whether it's a 30 second or half-day upgrade, but for most people, I can see how year-release would work better.
- FaddiCat 14y ago
  Microsoft was doing that with their consumer software for a while. The biggest issue is that people think the software is out of date as soon as the next year comes along.
  - kijin 14y ago
    With an actively developed and rapidly changing piece of free software, version 2012 actually would be outdated (and possibly insecure) by mid-2013. If the perception of outdatedness causes more users to upgrade in a timely fashion, I think it might be a good thing. Especially since you don't need to pay anybody $300+ for the new version. Having said that, LibreOffice seriously needs a more seamless update experience for consumers. Re-downloading a 100MB installer and re-installing every time a minor update is published gets tired rather quickly.
- deleted 14y ago
  [deleted]

ars 14y ago

Breakage (and bugs) for users.

lhnn 14y ago

Windows 7 Windows 8 iPhone 3 iPhone 3GS (minor update) etc.

ZeroGravitas 14y ago
The Apple S models generally keep the outer shell similar, but introduce completely new innards.
FooBarWidget 14y ago
And notice that none of them break compatibility upon incrementing their major version number. They sure don't follow semantic versioning.

Jare 14y ago

Architectural changes in a consumer product almost always bring along a new set of requirements and user-facing features: platform/OS, performance, UI design, file formats, updating policy, etc. as well as undesired bugs and regressions.