Guy, K2AV wrote:
The latter is termed field validation where I work, undertaken by customers
who have some stake in early adoption and understand they may find stuff.
The key to that kind of a developer/customer relationship is a speedy and
serious turnaround on anything found. A customer may also be expecting
"improvements" that are "not bugs" as part of this transaction.
That sounds like the true meaning of a beta test to me. The problem is
that certain big vendors have redefined beta test to mean a marketing
ploy by which the release early, with no guarantee of reliability or
specification stability, in order to undermine the competition.
In their terminology, a true beta is often calle the "closed beta".
Elecraft are actually operating a beta somewhat in the Microsoft sense,
but maybe more from the point of view of getting feedback from a wider
audience, than as a marketing ploy.
With all betas, you should only become a beta tester if you are prepared
to provide detailed feedback on any failings.
--
David Woolley
"The Elecraft list is a forum for the discussion of topics related to
Elecraft products and more general topics related ham radio"
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