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Why Does Beta Last So Long?
Carl Bialik writes "Noting that Google News has been labeled 'beta' for nearly three years, and Microsoft's antispyware program for nearly a year, the Wall Street Journal looks at why 'beta' lasts so long these days. The article mentions the usefulness of getting the masses to test the product, but also notices another possible reason: 'Betas also have become a marketing device in a fiercely competitive industry, allowing software and Internet firms to release new products or services sooner and cultivate early buzz. Betas, which once had been quietly distributed, are trumpeted in press releases and at news conferences. "I deplore it as a consumer; I admire it as a marketing professional," said Peter Sealey, a marketing professor at the University of California at Berkeley and former chief marketing officer at Coca-Cola Co. "I can't come up with anything else in the entire marketing world where marketers knowingly introduce a flawed or inadequate product [and] it helps grow your user base." '"
Well, there is nothing wrong with Betas, except if their is no real intention of a production/stable release in a reasonable timeframe. Something in Beta for three years should raise questions. The implication is tha by tagging something as Beta, software/service suppliers can absolve themselves of responsibility for defects. This is sort of like an even further erosion of the standard EULA weaknesses regarding bugs and defects. Software that is in Beta indefinitely should be called "abandoned".
I remember reading an article on Wired a long time ago about why Google News will forever be beta: it's all about money and copyrights. As long as it is beta, Google can claim it makes no profit from Google News. As soon as it gets "released," though, every newspaper with a lawyer will try to shut it down.
Give a man fire, and you warm him for the night. Set a man on fire, and you warm him for the rest of his life.
That's the truth. My company QA's our software but in new routines (moderatly complex) we were having bugs that wouldn't be triggered for months. To eliminate the confusion of our customers on our new product features all new modules/reports/etc... come out as beta for at least the first month. It's the "take it with a grain of salt" model. I've found our customers like accessing new features (especially the ones they specifically request) earlier and have significantly less anger when a small glitch appears. Programers aren't perfect and end-user design docs are almost impossible to get 100% correct. Beta is a happy medium that should not be abused. That being said Google abuses the shit out of it. However, when you don't pay a dime for their services, can you really complain? (The answer is yes, with very little affect.)
Yeah, because going out of Beta means that the license actually accepts liability, right?
Oh, wait. Non beta software is still sold as "use at your own risk".
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
On the other hand there are people that don't use some software because it's beta, so I guess there's a karma: you gain some customers that don't complain about the product and you lose some that will never try as long as the product is beta (depending on the product and customers there might be more won than lost, but in such a cases probably didn't matter from the beginning if the product was declared final or not).
"It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities." -- Prof. Dumbledore