Everything is Beta These Days
What’s going on with all the Beta software on the web? Are sites too afraid to stamp something as ready? Do they just want an excuse for buggy software? Does it just feel less risky to call it beta?
A few examples to prove my point:
- Google is most guilty of this and I think the trendsetter, because everyone loves to copy Google. GMail, News, Groups, Froogle, Desktop Search I’m sure the list goes on. Obviously it’s a culture at the company, afraid to say something is finished.
- Flickr photo sharing site. This seems like a pretty cool app and I have high hopes for it. Released under beta, but they still charge for the full service.
- Feed Burner an RSS feed statistics tool for web masters. I think they are calling it beta until they figure out how they can make money on it.
I’m sure if I look a little more I can find many more examples.
I remember when companies hired a staff of QA testers to verify their software worked well. It appears the new model is just to release it as Beta and fix it as you go. No one can complain because Hey, it’s still Beta