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The Amazing World of Software Version Numbers

Posted by timothy on from the remember-the-slackware-incident dept.

Harry writes "In theory, software version numbers should be incredibly mundane. In reality, companies have long twisted them for marketing purposes, avoided ones they didn't like, and even replaced them with things other than numbers. I've prepared a tribute to them with some facts and ruminations, but there's a lot I don't know, and I'd appreciate help on the historical side of things. (Anyone know when the standard decimal point-based system came into use?)"

23 of 321 comments (clear)

  1. What now? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...standard decimal point-based system...

    What is this standard you are referring to?

    1. Re:What now? by wkurzius · · Score: 5, Funny

      1.1.1 -> 2.0.0 - Expect 2.0.1 within the week.

    2. Re:What now? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      I prefer A.B.C.D.

      I had a coder work for me (who for unrelated reasons was an incompetent idiot) who decided that if any one of the letters went to 9, then the next release would roll over to 0, and the next higher letter would be upped.

      So releases went from 1.0.9.5 to 1.1.0.0 for a minor bug fix. Made no real sense whatsoever, however his code didn't make much sense either.

    3. Re:What now? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      Of course, if there is a .Z, then you need to decompress it first.

      Thank you! I'm here all week!

    4. Re:What now? by icannotthinkofaname · · Score: 2, Funny

      1.1.1 -> 2.0.0 - major release, might very well break functionality, documents may have to be converted from previous versions, UI can change drastically.

      Wow. Sounds like back in 2007, Microsoft really wanted to put out a version of MS Office that they could label as "new", but had no good ideas for how to make it better, so they just followed this rule and broke functionality, rewrote the document format, and drastically changed the UI.

      --
      Let q be a radix > 1. I am in ur base-q, killing 10 d00ds.
  2. FFx2 by T+Murphy · · Score: 5, Funny

    All I know is with Firefox on 3.5 and Windows on 7.0, Windows must be twice as good as Firefox. AOL of course trumps everyone.

    --
    My webcomic
    1. Re:FFx2 by martas · · Score: 2, Funny

      so windows 98 is 14 times better than win 7? and of course, win 2000 is by far the best. (actually, that last part I believe. windows 2000 was like windows NT, but with graphics that didn't make you want to pull out your cerebral cortex through your nose.)

      --
      weinersmith
  3. First Post 5.0 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Better late than never!

  4. Re:First V0.1 by homes32 · · Score: 3, Funny

    don't forget to upgrade to:
    V0.1 Basic - you don't really want this cuz we crippled it so you would buy our more expensive packages
    V0.1 Premium - just enough of a taste to make you horny for more features in our Platinum package
    V0.1 Professional - we stripped out some the the cool stuff and added some features for buisness that you will never use
    V0.1 Platinum - this is the best one yet! you get everything!(almost) it will even make you coffee and pancakes and walk your dog!
    V0.1 So awesome we can't even tell you the name edition! - we don't know what the hell this is, our marketing guys have been hitting the sauce pretty hard lately.

  5. os x by psyklopz · · Score: 4, Funny

    The article mentions OS X and the fact that they will be running out of cat names pretty soon.

    My prediction: as soon as they run out of cat names, they'll go to 'OS 11'

    Steve Jobs will market it by saying 'this one goes to eleven... It's one better, isn't it?'

  6. Read it by Vollernurd · · Score: 2, Funny

    Well, that's 4 minutes of my life I'll never get back. Chrissssst... I'm a geek and even I thought that was dull.

    --
    Smokey, this is not 'Nam, this is bowling. There are rules.
    1. Re:Read it by Haxzaw · · Score: 2, Funny

      Thank you for playing, now please leave your geek card with the nerd at the door on your way out.

    2. Re:Read it by Hognoxious · · Score: 2, Funny

      Does that include the time to wipe your smudgy fingerprints off the screen?

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
  7. Re:Different people, different numbering schemes. by veganboyjosh · · Score: 5, Funny

    Odd numbers for unstable releases?

    That you, Gene Roddenberry?

  8. Mac OS 7.5.1 was my first... by Cormophyte · · Score: 2, Funny

    ...personal encounter with a second decimal point in a version number. Although I was just a high school kid at the time I can still remember all the geeks on the other side of the Mac/PC divide claiming it was aberrant and wrong.

    Thus my general disrespect for proponents of the Windows operating system was born.

  9. Re:os x - Don't forget LOLCAT editions? by Webcommando · · Score: 5, Funny

    Apple will have even more names when they move into LOLCAT space: Serious Cat, Ceiling Cat, Basement Cat, Itty Bitty Kitty Commiteh, and Monorail Cat.

    The possibilities are endless!

    --
    I love the sound of distortion in the morning -- webcommando
  10. Re:w/r/t Windows by xsarpedonx · · Score: 3, Funny

    "I was the performance test engineer for Vista update services during the initial release of Vista" Shouldn't you have posted this anonymously?

  11. Re:w/r/t Windows by subanark · · Score: 4, Funny

    I really don't think the update services for Vista are that bad performance wise. But... my job didn't amount to anything, I was pretty much there so that the update division could state that they did performance testing.

  12. Dewey Decimal System by srussia · · Score: 2, Funny

    Oddly enough, the Dewey Decimal System is at v22, no decimal.

    --
    Set your phasers on "funky"!
  13. Metals by Jeremy+Erwin · · Score: 2, Funny

    Gold, Platinum, Platinum Plus were all substitutes for proper versioning in the 1980s and probably 1990s. This is parodied by many a perl script,

    $ua->agent("Schmozilla/v9.14 Platinum"); # give it time, it'll get there

  14. Here's how I interpret them numbers... by mcrbids · · Score: 2, Funny

    A.B.C.D

    A: Major Release, really freaking hard. Will probably deprive you of sleep for a day or two. Start with backups, and test the backups before you bother.

    B: Minor Release. Probably will not hork your computer, but will randomly do so.

    C: Some number that I pretty much ignore.

    D: LOL Wut?

    --
    I have no problem with your religion until you decide it's reason to deprive others of the truth.
  15. Re:os x - Don't forget LOLCAT editions? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

    You go to hell. You go to hell, and you die!

  16. Oldest versions: by Subm · · Score: 2, Funny

    Oldest version numbers:

    Linear A: Linear A is one of two linear scripts used in ancient Crete before Mycenaean Greek Linear B... Linear A seems to have been used as a complete syllabary around 1900 - 1800 BC,

    Linear B: Linear B is a script that was used for writing Mycenaean Greek, an early form of Greek. It predated the Greek alphabet by several centuries (ca. 13th but perhaps as early as late 15th century BC).

    Linear C: (Redirected from Linear C [Already the marketers were messing with the version numbers!]) The Cypro-Minoan syllabary (abbreviated CM) is an undeciphered syllabic script used on the island of Cyprus during the Late Bronze Age (ca. 1550-1050 BC).

    Beat that!

    Can you imagine in 1800 BC how much of a pain the upgrade cycle must have been when everyone had to update their clay tablets?