I have seen quite a good development in Firefox versions! The most good update which I saw was from 3.6.9 to firefox 4. But in recent last 2 years I have seen Firefox making lot of version names even for smaller changes! It’s like last night when I slept I was having Firefox 11 but in morning it got updated to version 12. I agree to be updated but is it necessary to give a new version name for every minor update? If you see Internet Explorer for every version they introduce something new! for example Internet Explorer 9 from Internet Explorer 8…So Don’t you think FireFox is in the mood of increasing the no. of version race?
Well, try Chrome, which has far more versions than Firefox. Do you really want browsers to remain as fixed as IE? Once IE is out, we are stuck with it for years … although I gather they are starting to do incremental upgrades like this now. The web will move forward much faster is browsers update regularly. Think of all the CSS3 we’d be able to use if they all kept moving apace like this. 
I think that’s more marketing psychology pertaining to people’s expectations than anything else… Give people the illusion that every number increment is a major new release. 12 sounds better than 11.5.7 to some people.
I remember the havoc the last iPhone release caused. Everyone was expecting the next-generation iPhone to be labeled “iPhone 5”. Out came the “iPhone 4S” as the successor of the iPhone 4. Some people actually felt that it was a betrayal of sorts before even looking at the specs.
I think so , because if they did not ,that would put them behind in the other site.
I used to love using firefox but lately the updates have not been impressing. The latest version takes a minute to load. I think it has too much going on (add ons etc). Chrome is perfect. Simple and fast.
I’ve found the current version of FF locks up occasional, especially when I’m opening a load of tabs at the same time
It will only have add-ons if you’ve … er … added them on. 
The major impact that the new version numbering is having is on Firefox extensions. Where it used to be reasonable to have the extension set up to identify that it would work with all sub-versions of version 4 including those not released yet, as soon as FF released a minor upgrade and called it v5 the extensions automatically reported that they wouldn’t work with that version until their max version identifier was updated. So now the extension writers have to waste time making small changes to their code each time a new FF vewrsion comes out so as to tell FF that their extension will still work bwcause the browser change was so minor that it didn’t change anything that would have any impact on anything.
Ha ha, hadn’t thought of it like that. I wonder, though, if many people care much whether it’s 12 or 11.5.7 … as long as they keep it up to date and progressing. I have no idea what version Chrome it up to, as it all happens in the background. That’s an advantage Chrome has, IMHO.
I believe all of the major Web browsers are in a race, and I am loving every moment of it.
It is far better to have constant updates (even if they are minor), than having a stagnant browser.
For example, look at IE; it was stagnant for such a long time! Imagine how far we could have gone should Microsoft had continued to update it!
These updates are very beneficial, for they push the other companies and ultimately improve the Web!
It has been always on the way, Love to use firefox and to try to wait for better versions
No! Impossible! Really? I didn’t know that 
Off Topic:
Sorry, I couldn’t resist 
These are marketing strategies to stay in the version race …
The idea that Firefox releases versions from 10, 11, 12 gives the idea to people who are not so “tech savvy” that it is more of a stable release. Chrome works well because as Ralph mentioned the updates are in the background and you never really know when stuff is getting updated. Which I like, because when I used to use Firefox, updates were regular and to be honest, having to sit through that update and then restarting Firefox comes at the most annoying times (It seemed for me, hah!) I’m obsessed with Chrome lately and wouldn’t change it for anything.
About version races, it’s good to see a company want to develop and release so fast. Internet explorer has and will continue to be left behind because of the not so regular updates. If all browsers moved in fashion to Chrome and Firefox we would indeed be seeing the use of more CSS3 and HTML5 stuff in our browsers which I know as a web developer we definitely want…
I am not saying we should be stuck to just one single stable package , I mean to say, If there is any new version for the browser, it should be something big or good to count ! Even if there are minor changes are being happened the version names can be done in decimals(FireFox used to do it 2 years ago) But since then in just 2 years the Firefox has taken a big leap in making no. of versions for smaller updates and the real drawback we face is the incompatibility of the add-ons for every new version and that’s the reason I Switched Myself to Chrome! Thanks
that’s right, this is the beauty of the chrome that the updates run in background unlike in the case of FireFox! Even I am sticking to Chrome for longer time!
And it’s interesting that Firefox had ceased using decimal numbers roughly at the time when Chrome rose to popularity and eventually took over: http://gs.statcounter.com/press/chrome-overtakes-firefox-globally-for-first-time
I was using Firefox 3 with very comfort. Then they updated it to version 4. These days Firefox 14 is available!! And these new versions are not that overwhelming good !! I am now using Chrome as my default browser which is much better !
problem with all the FF versions is Addons are becoming obsolete in matter of weeks. I get a cool addon… bam doesn’t work anymore… the developer obviously can’t keep up with the updates; then they bail out on developing out the addon. i prefer atleast bi yearly updates.
I have thought about this myself and could not agree more. It’s almost a joke the way Firefox comes out with a new version number for minor enhancements. We are already up to Firefox 14! At the current pace, we should be up to Firefox 100 in 2 or 3 years.
I normally don’t use Firefox because it is a slow, bloated piece of crap that locks up. I usually use Opera. But it isn’t on this computer.
By the way, I am using a quad core Intel with 4 GB of RAM and Firefox 14.0.1 choked on this hotel
website.
Firefox locked up for a good 15 - 20 seconds when I first tried to view that website. If there is heavy javascript such as a few jQuery libraries, it seems that Firefox chokes.
Maybe someone using Firefox can visit that hotel site and let me know if Firefox chokes on it for you as well.