Comments on: The death of the beta http://factoryjoe.com/blog/2006/02/02/the-death-of-the-beta/ This can all be made better. Ready? Begin. Wed, 07 Jan 2009 17:03:29 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7 hourly 1 By: GatewayTom http://factoryjoe.com/blog/2006/02/02/the-death-of-the-beta/comment-page-1/#comment-2041 GatewayTom Sat, 04 Feb 2006 02:37:49 +0000 http://factoryjoe.com/blog/2006/02/02/the-death-of-the-beta/#comment-2041 When you release something into the public realm, you do have responsibilities! You have responsibilities to your community. The Beta tag, whether on software, a web site, or a heart Defibrillator- G*d forbid, does not absolve you of accountability. What remedies are available to an injured party is relative to the time, place, and their status in the community. Your risk should be considered and the need to at least take a moment to try and act conscientiously is often overlooked. When you release something into the public realm, you do have responsibilities! You have responsibilities to your community. The Beta tag, whether on software, a web site, or a heart Defibrillator- G*d forbid, does not absolve you of accountability. What remedies are available to an injured party is relative to the time, place, and their status in the community. Your risk should be considered and the need to at least take a moment to try and act conscientiously is often overlooked.

]]> By: FactoryJoe http://factoryjoe.com/blog/2006/02/02/the-death-of-the-beta/comment-page-1/#comment-2028 FactoryJoe Fri, 03 Feb 2006 03:01:01 +0000 http://factoryjoe.com/blog/2006/02/02/the-death-of-the-beta/#comment-2028 Hey Alex, not sure I think software should be "dumbing the world down" per se -- maybe allowing us to make smarter and more effective decisions? And to use our time better? In which case, what made sense two years ago and is now commonly understood may no longer apply... consider using folders extensibly to organize bookmarks... once you get past, y'know, 200 bookmarks, it's impossible to manage them or remember which folder contains what; hence tagging! So if we let software grow stagnant and whither on the vine, so-to-speak, you get stuck in old models of thinking which don't reflect the complexity and influx of data that's bombarding us all today. Consider spam -- without constantly improving our software it's more likely that my mom will just give up if she doensn't get taken advantage of before it comes to that. Anyway, I agree that we ought not focus so intensely on early-adopters all the time -- what I'm suggesting instead is that we teach a new conception or perception of software development that understands that software needs to change and be maintained. Consider this: should history classes only teach what we knew in the 50s or should our textbooks constantly be maintained to reflect new information that has been revealed since? It's an ecosystem out there -- and we've got to stay vigilant to the realities that exist; that software was once measured as '95, '98 and 2000 doesn't mean that we need continue this trend into the future, only that we must acknowledge that that was a historical means of measuring completeness that simply no longer applies. Hey Alex, not sure I think software should be “dumbing the world down” per se — maybe allowing us to make smarter and more effective decisions? And to use our time better? In which case, what made sense two years ago and is now commonly understood may no longer apply… consider using folders extensibly to organize bookmarks… once you get past, y’know, 200 bookmarks, it’s impossible to manage them or remember which folder contains what; hence tagging!

So if we let software grow stagnant and whither on the vine, so-to-speak, you get stuck in old models of thinking which don’t reflect the complexity and influx of data that’s bombarding us all today. Consider spam — without constantly improving our software it’s more likely that my mom will just give up if she doensn’t get taken advantage of before it comes to that.

Anyway, I agree that we ought not focus so intensely on early-adopters all the time — what I’m suggesting instead is that we teach a new conception or perception of software development that understands that software needs to change and be maintained.

Consider this: should history classes only teach what we knew in the 50s or should our textbooks constantly be maintained to reflect new information that has been revealed since? It’s an ecosystem out there — and we’ve got to stay vigilant to the realities that exist; that software was once measured as ‘95, ‘98 and 2000 doesn’t mean that we need continue this trend into the future, only that we must acknowledge that that was a historical means of measuring completeness that simply no longer applies.

]]> By: Alex http://factoryjoe.com/blog/2006/02/02/the-death-of-the-beta/comment-page-1/#comment-2027 Alex Fri, 03 Feb 2006 01:52:58 +0000 http://factoryjoe.com/blog/2006/02/02/the-death-of-the-beta/#comment-2027 I'm a developer and try hard entrepreneur so my view of the world is biased in that direction. But, doesn't it seem that there is too much emphasis on the early adopter crowd? With the betas, and the constant updates? Say your mum has finally mastered the world of email, but the email client's stability fluctuates, or randomly updates with fixes to obscure features, or with even more features she doesn't need. Do you think she cares? She wants email, and she wants it to work. The world is complex enough, software should be dumbing the world down not making it more complex. I’m a developer and try hard entrepreneur so my view of the world is biased in that direction. But, doesn’t it seem that there is too much emphasis on the early adopter crowd? With the betas, and the constant updates? Say your mum has finally mastered the world of email, but the email client’s stability fluctuates, or randomly updates with fixes to obscure features, or with even more features she doesn’t need. Do you think she cares? She wants email, and she wants it to work. The world is complex enough, software should be dumbing the world down not making it more complex.

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