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Our product has a long history (12 years or so).
It's origins are in VB3 (Version 1) and later VB6 (Version 2). (Version numbers were a "dogs breakfast" and version control was a nightmare.
I've been involved here for a couple of years now. We have Version 3 in development on the .Net platform but version 2 continues to be supported with periodic releases - about 3 or 4 per year.
I introduced nightly automated builds back when I started and the version number of our product was 2.2.2. Everyone was planning on just releasing 2.2.3, but the automated build process and VB6's "interesting" 3 part numbering system, meant we need to make use of the third portion - build / revision number - which ever it is supposed to be.
So we released version 2.3 (with a build number of "whatever") and went to work on 2.4 (incrementing build numbers nightly), then 2.5, then 2.6 etc.
The build number was hidden away from public view but available for support purposes even though we rarely release more than one build of a version - we have needed to patch occasionally though.
Consistency ensured. Now we reach 2.9. We are about to move to 2.10 (Two point nine, up to Two point Ten). Unfortunately non-technical guys are reading this like a rational number (Two - point One). They can't understand why we don't just go to Version 3.0 - like counting. (The build number is only displayed on the "Help/About" screen for support purposes).
I don't think a product (major number) upgrade is warranted especially due to the expectations this will set in the market place.
Is there a correct way to proceed here? (2.10 or 3.0 or something better - or does it even matter?)
(NB. I've gone to some lengths to ensure the version number now displays as 2.09, instead of 2.9 (on our web site, the product splash screen and various other public places etc), so that when we move to 2.10 it may make more sense, but this is potentially just as confusing because 2.09 is really a lower rational number than 2.8...)
See Also:
Deciding on version numbers
How to do version numbers?
How do you know what version number to use?
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Reading version numbersThe leftmost number (1) is called the major version. The middle number (2) is called the minor version. The rightmost number (3) is called the revision but it may also be referred to as a "point release" or "subminor version".
Major version zero (0. y.z) is for initial development. Anything may change at any time. The public API should not be considered stable.
With semantic numbering, developers communicate the degree of change associated with each software update by categorizing versions into major, minor, and bug or patch updates. The patch number is incremented for changes that are not meant to alter the product's existing functionality.
Look at it as a chance for the non-technical guys to learn something ;-) Version numbers should be like chapter and section numbers in a book, they split the lifetime of your program into coherent and internally consistent blocks.
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