Archive 2005
Alpha is the New Beta
A few years ago if a piece of software or a web service carried a beta mark, most people except developers would keep well away from it.
Last reviewed
Archive Written in 2005 and kept as it was. Links and products mentioned here may no longer exist.
It was like a little warning sign to say something’s not quite ready, but you can take a look if you’re willing to take the risk. The risk that it’s not been fully tested and therefore anything could happen (eg. the world could explode).
Nowadays however, I seem to be using a huge number of beta products without even trying. Gmail is in beta. Flickr is in beta. Google News, Odeo, Windows AntiSpyware, Kinja, Google Maps; they’re all in beta but I, along with hundreds of thousands of people, use them every day. Ok so Google is responsible for most of them, but you get the point :)
I’m currently using a test version of Firefox called Deer Park Alpha 1 which suggests to me that ‘alpha’ will start to be applied to software still in it’s developmental stage, moreso than it has been previously. Alpha used to be a no-go zone for everyone but the most hardcore of developers, but with Deer Park being usable and with a lot fewer bugs than I expected, I predict that it’ll become the new beta. The only problem being of course… what happens when everything is alpha? You get pre-alpha, but then what? There aren’t any letters in the greek alphabet before alpha…