Starting from which integer is it better to switch to another product brand versioning scheme (year-based, codenames, ...)?

Question

Take a few examples:

• DirectX 11
• Silverlight 4
• OpenGL 4
• Firefox 3

I find that it is a little bit silly to have such high product version numbers: What it will mean when they'll reach version number 20? Products are just evolutions from one version to another, and the psychological impact is inversely proportional to the number magnitude (version 10.0 vs 11.0 compared to version 2.0 vs 3.0).

Common alternatives are:

• switch to a year-based scheme (Visual Studio 6 => Studio 2005, 2008, 2010)
• use abbreviation to reset the counter (Adobe CS 2,3,4..)
• use codename (Windows XP, Windows Vista)
• use hybrid codename/numbering puns (Windows Seven, MacOS X). Really clever.
• use sub-release numbers (CATIA V5 R18, R19, ...). The best thing to do IMHO.
• or even complete product re-branding.

So, starting from which number things are getting counter-productive: 3? 4? 6? 10?

Side question 1: what is the highest public version number you know of?

Side question 2: other interesting versioning alternatives to the one I suggested?

Answer 1

As ever, the answer is 42.

EDIT: Oh, alright, I admit that sometimes the answer to questions on SO is 'Emacs'.

Answer 2

One scheme is Ubuntu's: an autoincremented alliterative adjective and animal. For example, we're just getting off "Karmic Koala", and the next big thing will be (darn, can't remember, let's just go with "Leprous Lemur"), and then something like "Malevolent Macaque". Yes, it's easy to make fun of, and the earlier versions weren't alphabetical, but incrementing the letter is probably, for reasons you mentioned, better than incrementing a number. Of course, there's room for speculation for what comes after "Zymurgic Zebra", as there are no adjectives or animal names beginning with "[" or "{" (depending on whether you're looking at uppercase ASCII/Unicode characters or lowercase).

Edit: Also X may be a problem. Xanthippic Xerophyte?

Answer 3

I think it's really rather simple:

Option 1: you rename it every time
Reason 1: Marketing Department are weak and/or outsourced

Option 2: you increment the numeral
Reason 2: Marketing Department can, will, and has at least once already kicked Software Department's ass

Rebranding is a nightmare. Seriously, you guys.