Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Has Google Redefined Beta?

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the finished-when-it's-finished dept.

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."

1 of 292 comments (clear)

  1. I think its fair enough by Chrisq · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Beta means "it may change without warning". With traditional apps you have a choice to upgrade or not, but not with web applications. As long as there is active development then it is essentially a beta. Maybe they should have used a different term, but I think it is useful to have a warning that there may be frequent and substantial changes.