Shoutbox

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Originally posted by Matti

Sure, why don't developers just throw their creations straight at the public so the whole world can help testing it? Unfortunately, things don't work that way.

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I have examples where it is working:
http://forum.kaspersky.com/index.php?showtopic=161942
And a tutorial like this can help a lot.
The beta version just should not be put out on the main page.

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Originally posted by Matti

First of all, there are very good reasons to go through a private testing stage first. When a new build is compiled, it could contain massive bugs which may potentially affect a lot of users and may even result in a loss of data. (Cookie can testify this. Poor Cookie.) If such a build would be released to the public, it could harm thousands of computers and destroy the reputation of the program forever.

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This is absolutly true, that's why alpha versions are on private testing. But near-end versions IMO contains less bugs. (@Cookie: sorry about the accident.) And if you put a "Beta section" into the forum, like this: http://forum.kaspersky.com/index.php?showforum=20, only those people will find it, who want.

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Originally posted by Matti

Also, most of the users won't test the program properly. They'll just run with it, use it like they're used to and don't care about the features they don't use - potentially missing a bug. If they would find a problem, they probably won't even go to the forums to report it but go complain somewhere else which makes it impossible to track the issues. If they'd manage to find these forums and create a thread, it's very likely that their report will be very vague and doesn't provide much interesting details such as system information or step-by-step instructions on how to reproduce the problem. I'm not saying that every user is like this, I'm talking about the "average" user here. Private beta testers not only make detailed bug reports, they also go through the whole features set trying out every possible combination and pushing the software to its limits. Heck, they'd even mess with their files and registry if they had to and see how the program reacts. A very rare breed indeed.

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You are right in some cases, but:
1. Who said public testers should test every part of the program? They test what they use, and this way maybe an order could be written about bugs, more and less important ones.
2. I am not sure if the few beta testers can test in every environments and every cases. More tersters, more stable final version.