Mozilla has ended a controversy surrounding a sudden announcement that the browser maker would drop the version number from the ‘About’ window, which sparks a huge criticism from the IT world.

Mozilla’s Firefox product manager Asa Dotzler announced last week that the version number would be dropped and replaced with a note that the browser is up to date. (The version number would move to the troubleshooting window.) Dotzler argued that such a change would indicate that Firefox is changing into the direction of a web service such as MSN or Gmail – and no one is interested in what version of Gmail is currently running in their browser.

The result was a heated discussion in which Firefox users attacked developer staff in an exchange of online message posts. Many Firefox users apparently felt offended that Mozilla would simply remove such a feature and use vocabulary that was very much the opposite of what Mozilla preaches – and appeared to be arrogant at times (you can read the threads here).

Mozilla deleted the bug report that described the version number removal. Mozilla then announced that it no longer intends to remove the version number – a sign that Mozilla is listening to its users.