Comments on: Alpha, Beta Soup. What Does an App’s Status Mean to You?

by: WooHoo - The Official Woosabi Weblog » Blog Archive » Alpha, Beta… what? what?

Thu, 20 Mar 2008 13:10:18 +0000

[…] Rather than a drivel-ridden explanation from me, check out developor/journalist Cyndy Aleo-Carreira’s post: Alpha, Beta Soup. What Does an App’s Status Mean to You? on Profy.com […]

by: Grendel

Wed, 12 Mar 2008 16:44:00 +0000

Like Jason said though, you risk having the user not come back if you’re pushing an alpha quality product out there. “You never get a second chance to make a first impression” and all that.

by: Cyndy Aleo-Carreira

Wed, 12 Mar 2008 14:17:08 +0000

@Grendel I’d argue that when you are testing an app, especially with bootstrapped 2.0 companies, you may speed up your development process (and save money in the long run) by letting actual users do your alpha testing. Use cases are all well and good, but a wide sampling of tech-savvy users can often come up with things outside any use case you can come up with, and you save money not having to employ an actual QA person. Jason Calcanis should add that to his “tips for start-ups.”

@Jason In some respects I think you are right when it comes to alpha releases, but as Grendel pointed out, the beta concept has been diluted to an extreme, rendering it almost meaningless. I laughed til I cried yesterday at FriendFeedFeed yesterday with its “pre-beta” status, because it’s become a joke; everything 2.0 is beta.

And thanks for the compliment; I think you actually made me blush.

by: Jason

Wed, 12 Mar 2008 06:12:20 +0000

I’m not a developer, persae, but I am the project manager for things in “beta” ect. I am also an end user for a lot of online apps. So, here is my feedback.

Alpha to me is a semi-functional preview. I usually do not look at alpha’s because they are not complete enough to get an idea of what the thing does. If I do look at an Alpha I usually do not go back to the site.

Beta to me is a site that has some polish and is useful. It may have some bugs and you live with those and help find them. I don’t mind using beta products.

What I do mind is products perpetually in beta- it get’s annoying.

On a side note: Cindy, I have really enjoyed your articles. You have help make Profy a number one stop for me along with TC and RWW. Keep up the great work!

by: Grendel

Wed, 12 Mar 2008 04:17:11 +0000

It’s just another case of Web 2.0 bastardizing perfectly good words into something different. With GMail a beta for years and never losing an email, the term “beta” has raised the quality bar far above what would have been a beta in the past. Now “alpha” is being used for what traditionally would be a “beta” in the past… Like you said, real “alpha” level code shouldn’t see the light of day. Maybe someone didn’t get the memo about the new meanings and let real “alpha” code out the door.