beta?

[hascet]

What exactly does beta mean?

 

[ssc456]

umm not sure it is an eabreviation for anything but it generally means

a test version of a product or software that will become be release shortly after

 

[freestyler105]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_release_cycle#Beta

It's the first version of something released to the public in a form that's not final. The point is for the beta testers to give feedback on it so the manufacturer can make the product better before the final release.

It doesn't necessarily have to be finally released shortly after the beta...it could be released months or years later, depending on how long it takes them to fix issues that were found through the beta.

 

[lawlonslawt]

Yeah, freestyle pretty much owned that.

 

[wee493]

Agree with lawlonslawt

 

[hascet]

oh so its not an acronym or anything?

 

[freestyler105]

No. It comes from the Greek letter. Before the beta is the alpha, the stage where it's functional, but hasn't been tested yet. It's basically like calling it stage A and stage B, but instead using the Greek letters alpha and beta.

 

[lawlonslawt]

and again.