How long is “beta” supposed to last?
Well, I’m not arguing that MS is alone in this, but just look at the new “Desktop Search” tool, at (of all places) http://beta.toolbar.msn.com/ Yes, a lot of other places are doing it, too, but they’re blatantly just using some kind of vague “open beta” phase to get a big PR push before they have to actually stand behind the product. There’s little or no “bug tracking” involved–no mention on that home page of this being in some kind of “test phase”, no bug-tracking instructions in the installation process (that I could see), and nothing built into the tool itself to help report and track bugs. It’s got the standard “I want to participate in the Customer Experience Quality Program” they’re putting into everything now, but that’s not bug-tracking. Sure, they’ll eventually release it as a shrink-wrapped product, but they’re using the “beta” label as a PR ploy, not as some kind of legitimate product development/QA phase.
Where I’ve worked in the past Beta means “feature complete, but not bug free.” Beta lasts until you have fixed all A-class (crasher or other high priority failure), all B-class (serious or failure to meet spec) and until all C-class (cosmetic defect) bugs have either been fixed or considered acceptable by management and QA. C bugs may be closed acceptable or deferred to a later release. At this point, the software is RC (release candidate). There is no fixed amount of time, but sometimes management planned for intermediate releases on a 2 week cycle, so beta 1 lasts 2 weeks before beta 2.
It’s a vague question, and any answers will be just as vague. I’m assuming that you’re talking about beta software. If so, then the answer is “as long as the software house says”. The term “beta” can be used correctly to signify that a piece of software is being tested by a number of people in the real world. The beta for this will usually finish after a set period. This period is larger for more complicated software. Think anything from a month to a year. In recent times, software houses use the phrase “beta” to simply mean “software that is not finished yet”. This software will be pushed out to beat the competition to market, or to keep users happy and usually has nothing to do with testing. These beta versions can be in circulation for months and months. There is also a category of software which is never finished, and is always on “beta”. This can be used to cover up the fact that the software isn’t very good and probably doesn’t work properly. So in answer to your question… It d
Yeah…the term “beta” has been stretched beyond all recognition (especially by Microsoft). It used to mean a very specific period in the testing phase. “Alpha” usually meant a test phase under very controlled conditions, either entirely internal, or with a very small group of external testers. “Beta” generally meant having a feature-complete app released to a wider group of external testers, but still an environment where (a) you knew everyone who had it, and (b) they had an obligation to report and help squash bugs. _Some_ companies still handle “beta-testing” that way, but many others (again, especially Microsoft) now just use it to mean “unsupported”. The “beta” label is supposed to add enough cachet that you don’t care about the fact that you’re being thrown to the wolves, support-wise.
