Has Google Redefined Beta?

netbuzz writes "Someone finally took the time to do a count of all the Google apps marked 'beta.' And with fully 45% of its products carrying that familiar tag — including 4-year-old Gmail — Google says there's an explanation: Beta doesn't mean to them what it has long meant to the rest of the tech community. 'We believe beta has a different meaning when applied to applications on the Web,' says a company spokesman."

Comments

The True Meaning of Beta

[Sasayaki]

I think that it's less that Google have redefined Beta, but that they've bought it back to what it SHOULD be- usable and feature-complete software which is just undergoing stringent testing for subtle defects and bugs.

Frankly, this makes for a refreshing change from the rest of the software industry (particularly Microsoft) who hold the opinion that Beta is Greek for "Great- ship it and patch it up later."