What does "beta" mean in software like the recently SPFF thing?

Answer 1

It means that you shouldn't expect it to not be buggy.

Answer 2

When software developers are writing a program, they give their creation version numbers, and generally the work progresses through several phases.

Of course, when they are in the early stages, they just have the outline of the program built, and there are so many gaping holes that you can't actually use the program for the purposes for which it is intended.

When the software gets to the point where it is sort of usable, this is usually called the alpha phase, and a lot of testing and refinement go on.

The next phase, as the software project nears completion, is generally called the beta phase, where the software is pretty much complete, and the majority of the remaining tasks are to find and fix bugs. For this reason, at that stage, the organization writing the software often will release their program to a select group of people who they hope will try using the software, and who will report back to them with detailed information about the bugs they encounter while using the incomplete software.

Starting back around the time of Windows 95, which was sort of "glamorous" software, if any software can be called such - it started to be cool (at least in the techno-nerd arena) to be a beta-tester (at first of Win95 and later of almost any software). And some companies increasingly started using the beta-testing phase of their software creating to give out many copies of their software and hopefully create a marketing buzz and some hype about their soon-to-be-released product.

Answer 3

It means that it's almost ready for release to the general public. That's often when they have a lot of beta-testers, people who run the software, and look for bugs/problems and report them so they can hopefully be fixed.

An example of this would be the Massive multiplayer role playing game (MMORPG) Star Wars Galaxies. It went into an extensive beta test, where players were playing the game, and seeing what it was like, as well as looking for problems/bugs. They reported quite a few, and warned that it wasn't ready to be released, but Sony Online Entertainment (SOE) didn't really listen. They released the game, knowing full well that it still had many bugs in it, and although it did well intially, the many bugs in the game pissed off quite a few people, who paid good money for a game that didn't feel complete.

For instance, if you picked up a quest, it might not have been finished yet, so you might not get a reward at the end (or you might not even be able to finish it, such as the Rebel Theme Park, because certain characters you had to talk to weren't even in the game yet). Or you end up taking a mission to destroy a camp of monsters, only to find that the camp doesn't exist, forcing you to waste time to run back to town and get another mission. When it takes10 minutes to walk back to town, it gets on player's nerves after a while.

Because of its perceived rush to "gold" status (what comes after "beta"), many players felt deceived that they were in actuality paying to play a beta game (when you're beta-testing, you shouldn't have to pay the developers. They don't have to pay you either though), and many quit in frustration due to many bugs not being fixed, or taking too long to get fixed. And when stuff does get fixed, players are forced to download huge patches which could take hours to download and apply. And sometimes it makes things worse as well.

The example I gave you is why beta-testing is often crucial for any company. And if they screw it up too much, people will often vote with their wallet, meaning they don't buy the software, and they warn others not to either. If word of mouth is strong enough, that can negatively impact the software (again, Star Wars Galaxies suffered greatly because of word-of-mouth from disgruntled players. And you would think with something as big as "Star Wars", they would've drawn in a lot of people).

Ironically, good word of mouth can also help, such as it did with World of Warcraft (although I think they're hitting a snag now cause the endgame content sucks for most players), but to be fair, Blizzard also has a good history of releasing fun games that people will like, so that certainly helped.

Answer 4

A beta version or beta release usually represents the first version of a computer program that implements all features in the initial software requirements specification. It is likely to be unstable but useful for internal demonstrations and previews to select customers, but not yet ready for release. Some developers refer to this stage as a preview, as a technical preview (TP) or as an early access.

Often this stage begins when the developers announce a feature freeze on the product, indicating that no more feature requirements will be accepted for this version of the product. Only software issues, or bugs and unimplemented features will be addressed.

Beta versions stand at an intermediate step in the full development cycle. Developers release them to a group of beta testers (sometimes the general public) for a user test. The testers report any bugs that they found and sometimes minor features they would like to see in the final version.

A major example of a public beta test was when Microsoft started releasing regular Windows Vista Community Technology Previews (CTP) to beta testers starting in January 2005. The first of these was build 5219. Subsequent CTPs introduced most of the planned features, as well as a number of changes to the user interface, based in large part on feedback from beta testers. Windows Vista was deemed feature complete with the release of build 5308 CTP, released on February 22, 2006, and much of the remainder of work between that build and the final release of the product will focus on stability, performance, application and driver compatibility, and documentation.

When a beta becomes available to the general public it is often widely used by the technologically savvy and those familiar with previous versions as though it were the finished product. Usually developers of freeware or open-source betas release them to the general public while proprietary betas go to a relatively small group of testers. In February 2005, ZDNet published an article about the recent phenomenon of a beta version often staying for years and being used as if it were in production-level [1]. It noted that Gmail and Google News, for example, had been in beta for a long period of time and were not expected to drop the beta status despite the fact that they were widely used; however, Google News did leave beta in January 2006. This technique may also allow a developer to delay offering full support and/or responsibility for remaining issues. Recipients of highly proprietary betas may have to sign a non-disclosure agreement.

A release is called feature complete when the development team agrees that no new features will be added to this release. New features may still be suggested for later releases. More development work needs to be done to implement all the features and repair defects.

As the second major stage in the development cycle, following the alpha stage, it is named after the Greek letter beta, the second letter in the Greek alphabet.

The term beta test applied to software follows from an early IBM hardware development convention dating back to punched card tabulating and sorting machines. Hardware first went through an alpha test for preliminary functionality and manufacturing feasibility. Then a beta test to verify that it actually correctly performed the functions it was supposed to, and then a c test to verify safety. With the advent of programmable computers and the first sharable software programs, IBM used the same terminology for testing software. Beta tests were conducted by people or groups other than the developers. As other companies began developing software for their own use, and for distribution to others, the terminology stuck and now is part of our common vocabulary.

Answer 5

Beta means under testing.

Answer 6

beta testing. a software design idea where other professionals are asked to test, tweak, or offer opinions.