

Open betas and short software release schedules lead to "a race to the bottom" - ilamont
http://thestandard.com/news/2008/04/30/thou-shall-ship-no-software-its-time

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vlad
Up until Google, software products in Beta usually had many bugs. Typically,
this would be desktop software that had not been tested in more operating
environments than the developer's own computer. I believe Google was the first
major web application to use the term beta, and at the time, it was a very
strange thing to do. It was probably because they were in "beta" that they
didn't try to place ads all over the place; they didn't want to worry about
that because they were too busy trying to figure out the best search
algorithm.

Beta could mean that more features are coming soon, like with Google. But Beta
can be the original meaning--that the software or web app is available for
feedback but may not even work correctly. That's not something new, however.

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jb
Or to use an old cliche, "you only get one chance at a first impression."

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ghileman
Amen

