Comments on: The death of BETA! http://danleach.co.uk/2008/12/03/the-death-of-beta/ A blog celebrating creativity within PR, marketing, and social media Tue, 09 Feb 2010 14:31:49 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: FoshizniK! » When Beta Isn’t Beta http://danleach.co.uk/2008/12/03/the-death-of-beta/comment-page-1/#comment-272 FoshizniK! » When Beta Isn’t Beta Thu, 04 Dec 2008 08:20:04 +0000 http://danleach.co.uk/?p=162#comment-272 [...] responded to Dan’s post on the death of beta with a rather lengthy comment, that was more like “a whole new [...] [...] responded to Dan’s post on the death of beta with a rather lengthy comment, that was more like “a whole new [...]

]]> By: Tim C http://danleach.co.uk/2008/12/03/the-death-of-beta/comment-page-1/#comment-271 Tim C Thu, 04 Dec 2008 07:57:33 +0000 http://danleach.co.uk/?p=162#comment-271 Sorry, I do have a tendency to ramble on and on... ;) Sorry, I do have a tendency to ramble on and on… ;)

]]> By: Dan http://danleach.co.uk/2008/12/03/the-death-of-beta/comment-page-1/#comment-270 Dan Wed, 03 Dec 2008 20:56:12 +0000 http://danleach.co.uk/?p=162#comment-270 That's not so much a comment as a new post Tim. Agree with you - I think in a nutshell BETA doesn't mean what it used to That’s not so much a comment as a new post Tim. Agree with you – I think in a nutshell BETA doesn’t mean what it used to

]]> By: Tim C http://danleach.co.uk/2008/12/03/the-death-of-beta/comment-page-1/#comment-269 Tim C Wed, 03 Dec 2008 19:14:17 +0000 http://danleach.co.uk/?p=162#comment-269 I'm an actual beta version of a person... Beta doesn't have so much meaning online as you say. Even when it comes to software, as someone who used the internet before it was fashionable I'm sure you remember spending hours online in the middle of the night downloading a beta-test version of some or other programme over your 56k modem (or your 36.6...). But back then only beta software was released online to iron out all the bugs, before the x.0 version was released on optical, and people bought it in actual shops. Then there was the "l337"ness of having a load of software with version numbers like 0.6.0.3 littering your immense two-gig hard drive. But beta in this sense is surely destined to be one of those words the online community in general hangs on to and changes the meaning of ever so slightly. To me, I agree with your point that a website should never be taken out of beta in the sense that you should constantly be tweaking, changing and updating. But this is the Web 2.0+ way isn't it. Now, when I see beta, I relate it more to SaaS, but also to individual websites, in the sense of, "OK guys, we've started building this service or site and we want you to have a play around and iron out all the massive bugs and issues - but we're not going to actively promote the site until it reaches a state we are happy with for the time being." This, if you like, brings you to version 1.0. From then on, you're saying "here's the full working version of the site" but you are not by any means resting on your laurels and leaving the site to wander out shaky-legged into the world. Of course you'll keep on making updates and tweaking this and that function to make it user-friendly, but you are saying "it actually works", whereas in beta the odd function may mess you around. Does that make sense? I’m an actual beta version of a person…
Beta doesn’t have so much meaning online as you say. Even when it comes to software, as someone who used the internet before it was fashionable I’m sure you remember spending hours online in the middle of the night downloading a beta-test version of some or other programme over your 56k modem (or your 36.6…).

But back then only beta software was released online to iron out all the bugs, before the x.0 version was released on optical, and people bought it in actual shops.

Then there was the “l337″ness of having a load of software with version numbers like 0.6.0.3 littering your immense two-gig hard drive.

But beta in this sense is surely destined to be one of those words the online community in general hangs on to and changes the meaning of ever so slightly. To me, I agree with your point that a website should never be taken out of beta in the sense that you should constantly be tweaking, changing and updating. But this is the Web 2.0+ way isn’t it.

Now, when I see beta, I relate it more to SaaS, but also to individual websites, in the sense of, “OK guys, we’ve started building this service or site and we want you to have a play around and iron out all the massive bugs and issues – but we’re not going to actively promote the site until it reaches a state we are happy with for the time being.” This, if you like, brings you to version 1.0.

From then on, you’re saying “here’s the full working version of the site” but you are not by any means resting on your laurels and leaving the site to wander out shaky-legged into the world. Of course you’ll keep on making updates and tweaking this and that function to make it user-friendly, but you are saying “it actually works”, whereas in beta the odd function may mess you around.

Does that make sense?

]]> By: Dan Thornton http://danleach.co.uk/2008/12/03/the-death-of-beta/comment-page-1/#comment-267 Dan Thornton Wed, 03 Dec 2008 12:53:06 +0000 http://danleach.co.uk/?p=162#comment-267 I pretty much consider myself in permanent Beta, let alone the projects I work on. Particularly with user interaction and engagement, everything should always be done with the long term in mind, otherwise you'll always set yourself up for a disaster at some point. I pretty much consider myself in permanent Beta, let alone the projects I work on. Particularly with user interaction and engagement, everything should always be done with the long term in mind, otherwise you’ll always set yourself up for a disaster at some point.

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