Reply
Sun 30 Mar, 2003 03:52 pm
In computer lingo, I often find the word. Thanks, Dov
My impression is that it means something is up and running, but is still being tested. It's kind of like an early draft of the real thing. Often there is nothing obvious "wrong", but the people behind the site are keeping tabs on any possible problems and fixing them as necessary.
sozobe has it. I'd go a bit further to say that beta means that the developers are not yet calling it a stable release. That might not sound like it's relevant but what I'm trying to illustrate is that sometimes a "release" is the quality of a beta. And somtimes a beta is more stable than a release.
It is sometimes related to warranties etc. A beta version is usually "try at your own risk", then again sometimes stable releases are too (particularly free stuff).
Here's a better answer that also covers Alpha.
Quote:Software developers throw the terms Alpha, Beta, and Release around a lot, and the terms may not be clear to software users. Basically, Release refers to software that is finished and documented. Alpha and Beta are used for software that is not complete but is usable enough for some selected users to test and give feedback. An Alpha version is a partial version for in-house and very limited outside testing. A Beta version is a fairly complete version for selected real users to test on real data.
For example, Microsoft sent out a series of Beta versions of Windows 95 to software developers so they could develop and test programs under Windows 95 before its release. Microsoft also used the term Pre-Release for these. They were good enough to be really used for software development, but were still incomplete in some areas.
From:
http://www.sil.org/computing/noc/Vol14/146software.htm
Actually, beta is Greek, and is a letter in the alphabet. Beta is also half the name of "alpha beta" the supermarket chain. c.i.
Right, but "in computer lingo..." Alpha is the first letter of the Greek alphabet, Beta the second (hence the word "alphabet" itself), and so is a way of saying first and second, or A and B.
and geek-speak for the first 'Release' is, of course, Gamma.
Stumble It!
Tweet This
Bookmark on Delicious
Share on Facebook
Share on MySpace