Do Software Versions Really Matter?

Software version numbers are a means of tracking the development and life cycle changes of a work product. This is called configuration management.

The work product name is what marketing deems to call it. That is called branding.

They are two completely different things and have little to do with each other. If marketing wants to call their product AutoMagic 10.3, then that's their call. If it sells more copies then calling it AutoMagic I, then marketing deserves a bonus for thinking outside of the box.

Lastly, every software product changes over time. We expect it. We realize that we can't buy the product that will be released 5 years from now, today, so we buy what is available today. Almost all software manufactures offer an upgrade process when new releases become available at a discount. People expect to move up as new software changes become available and offer more value or features.

And on a further note. Some Versions denote a beta or in-house function mock-up.

Of course with MS it is:

Name = engineering beta;

Name plus service pack 1 pre release beta;

Name plus service pack 1&2 = new product;

Name plus service pack 1,2,&3 = Stable product to be decommissioned.

Brad

Good answer (so voted)! Couldn't have said it better myself.

I would say the number of version doesn't matter but software producer's (team's) good name.

Here's some uncertainty how to rate relevantly the software's level. Some of products were growing quite slowly in its tenths or even hundredths of version number when another one leap ahead through 1-2 figures.

I was puzzled so often when I found that even beta versions of some soft worked much more better than end-release product.

We can rely on a version number as a rough guide though. Just how we're used to rely on a weather forecast.

We have a saying - from a song lyric - "you don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows"!

Just how we're used to rely on a weather forecast.

In the US the weather forecast, despite many orders of magnitude more data and processing power, is no more accurate than 20 years ago. The Farmers Almanac has a better long range track record.

Brad

It is arbitary and irrelavant, it just depends how the software writer(s) coded the development...
a) b) c) alph beta gama.

1a, 1b. whatever.

What the end user sees is probably entirely down to the marketing leeches men.

Del

Quite unlike what the end user sees when dealing with KrisDel Enterprises™, innit?!?

I've been a Beta tester for several Software Vendors over many years.

Often the Vendor misses out a suffix version or several, because of various unsolved problems, bugs or conflicts with Software made by other Vendors.

These suffix versions are never released to the public, if the Software Vendor is a properly responsible Company.

There are Software Vendors who appear to be quite irresponsible, often irresponsible very major Vendors, just to keep their cash flow a'rolling in.

Kind Regards....