Re: "New" way to refer to the Beta
Seth Bindernagel
I am cross-posting this message from Laura Mesa to our dev-l10n and
dev-l10n-web lists. Since many of your are promoting the localized
versions Firefox beta and corresponding websites, you will benefit from
this note from the Engagement team on how to refer to all the work you
are doing to participate in the beta release cycle.
Best wishes,
Seth
Laura Mesa wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> As we continue in the Firefox 4 Beta development cycle, we wanted to
> send out a note to get everyone on the same page when publicly
> referring to the latest beta release.
>
> In the past, we have referred to our beta updates numerically; for
> example, beta 1, beta 2, or beta 3. We agree that this is a very
> helpful way to keep track of specific releases, especially within
> engineering, and we should continue to do so.
>
> Publicly, however, we think its best to start moving away from
> associating a number to a particular release. As of now, we have 7
> scheduled Betas, and there is a possibility that we may need to have
> more. Potentially having to call out Firefox 4 Beta 9 in tweets,
> blogs, videos or social media could start to make it look like we've
> had an inefficient development cycle, and that--as well all
> know--couldn't be farther from the truth.
>
> From now on, it would be great to refer to Firefox 4 Beta without the
> release number, referring instead to release as the "latest beta
> update" or the "newest beta release". Doing so would go a long way to
> make sure we prevent negative news stories about the length of the
> development cycle as we prepare for RCs and finally, GA.
>
> To be clear, we aren't going to be super strict on this or monitor how
> people are referring to the beta--far from it! We just wanted to send
> a general note out so that everyone is aware of what we're trying to
> do and why, hopefully ensuring that we have the most effective
> messaging in the market that we can.
>
> Thanks for all your help--we're looking forward to an awesome Firefox 4!
>
> Cheers,
>
> Laura
>
> PS Also, don't forget to use #Fx4 or #fx4beta when tweeting about any
> of the coming beta releases!