[Bf-committers] version naming

[Paolo Ciccone]

Hello.

There seems to be a bit of misconception about what was asked. This thread
has turned from the initial request, to a debate about what would be the
right version number for Blender.
I apologize if I "fueled the fire" of that, the original question remains,
though.
Educators, like myself, and authors of books and DVDs that will help
understand Blender are in need of knowing what the program will be called.
It's not a matter of preferences,
it's a matter of having a clear way to refer to the program and being able
to prepare material that refers to Blender in the *proper* way. This is of
benefit for everybody. It seems that
some developer find the issue unimportant or irrelevant. Be assured that
it's not.
If you worked on just one release of a product, not a program, a product, in
the software industry you should know how much time and care is spent in
taking that decision.

If you spend hours and hours in coding for Blender you should care if people
will benefit from the fruit of so much effort. It's the role of people like
me to spread the word and help users
adopt Blender. At the end it's for the benefit of everybody.
I dedicate two full days a week  to promoting Blender. This includes finding
a good topic for a tutorial, recording it, editing it, publishing it at
Creative COW, blogging about it,
respond to the forum requests, etc.
Some of the feedback that I received included "I had Blender for a year,
could not figure it out, now I can, thanks to your tutorials" or "I thought
I could never use 3D, now you made
it accessible for me". I'm not bragging about it, I mention it because the
final point of making a program is to have people using it. Otherwise all
that coding is pointless. Preaching to
the choir can be very rewarding but it doesn't go that far.

There is a difference between an Array, a List or a Dictionary. You, as a
developer, would not like ambiguity in that. Educators and users of your
program don't like a similar ambiguity
in how to refer to the darn program.
Want to call it 2.6? Fine, but let's decide here and now how the program
will be known to the public at large. Development versions don't count in
that scheme. I have been telling people to stay clear from
development versions because they are not production quality. But there is a
point when the program ends the Beta phase and  is released. That is what
the public at large will need to use.

What should we call it?

It's not a hard decision or one that conflicts with the development. We are
at a point where this is becoming an issue. Every day. Let's make a
decision, update the websites and stick to the plan.
It will give a sense of stability, a sense of what to expect and it will
provide a clear way to refer to the program.

What you do, as a developer, is crucial and important. What we do, as
educators, is important too. When you dismiss this issue as "not important"
you are belittling our effort and undermining endless
hours of planning and design on how to make the future version of Blender a
success.

 We are not asking for new features, we are just in need to have one simple
"label" decided, possibly in a week or so.

Thanks for your time.

Cheers.
---
Paolo Ciccone
www.preta3d.com
www.paolociccone.com