quote:
Originally posted by Carltos Cool
Yes they should, they save money and the fans get to use new and exciting software...everyone wins.
not at all...
letting the public beta test right away will cost more money!
And using "exciting new software" is a motivation from people simply wanting beta software for the heck of having it; this should never ever be a motivation to become beta tester.
quote:
Originally posted by GiantSpider
I don't quite understand the No votes in the poll, as Nitemare said, if the public didn't test you are left with two scenarios.[list=1]
[*]Products take forever to be released
[*]Products are extremly buggy.[/list]
"Public" should never beta test a product just like that.
Reason being that it is much too dangerous for most of the public to use beta products in the first place (heck, most of the public wouldn't even know they're using a beta or even don't know what is involved in testing a product or what not). Also, when beta tests are only done in public, the creatiors would be overwelmed with a massive amount of reports and most reports would be about stuff they already know or stuff which aren't actual bugs within the program being tested. In other words, iether they need to hire more staff to handle all those reports, or either the releasing can be delayed because they put more time in reading all the (useless) reports instead of actually programming...
There are many many disadvantages to simply let everybody beta test just like that.
And in the poll there is no clear description made of what "public" means. They are quite logical and serious developpers will know why... Doing beta test for a
selective public audience is much better, but this distinction is not made in the pollin the poll. Hence the no votes...
Not to mention it is very lame for a company to hide behind the "its a beta, so live with it" approach when bugs aren't fixed.
A serious developping process for a professional product happens behind the scenes! Only at a later stage it can become "public" to a select few, and after that to a greater audience, etc...
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