Software Release

Since the early 1980s when the micro computer was (commercially) born, software packages have followed a standard release convention. A full release is a full digit, and a minor release is a decimal. For example Microsoft Windows® version 3.1.

In general, the bigger the number, the longer the product has been used, and hence the more stable it is likely to be. This is not always the case and you should be cautious of new 'dot zero' releases, e.g. 2.0 as it could still be brand new code; and potentially untested.