Rapid release has killed a lot of Firefox.
Many developers of extensions/add-ons quit updating because it was too much.
Rapid release must have something to do with job security, because such releases cause more problems than they resolve. Firefox comes out with a new release. Within a week or so, they come out with .1 update. Then, .2 update. Then a new release.
Yep, and I don't blame them.
> Rapid release must have something to do with job security,...
I'd bet it has to do with the increasing pressure from the malware/exploit community and malicious state-sponsored actors who crave to use vulnerabilities for financial or espionage purposes. This latest Flash vuln has been used for espionage against our own government.
So in that kind of environment, rapid release of patches makes sense -- fix every flaw as it appears because time is of the essence.
But it doesn't IMO require new major version numbering. That's nuts, and my god, Firefox is at version 40-something now? WTF.
I kind of hope that MS Win10's Edge sets a precedent with regard to "No Plugins". It'll kill off a lot of developers, which saddens me, but it'll hopefully improve stability and security enough to compensate for the loss of add-on functionality.