Comments on: Why release Alpha (or Beta) software? http://blog.gridjit.com/2008/07/13/why-do-alpha-or-beta-software/ The development blog for Gridjit, a social portal. Fri, 21 Nov 2008 09:24:18 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6 By: admin http://blog.gridjit.com/2008/07/13/why-do-alpha-or-beta-software/#comment-20 admin Mon, 14 Jul 2008 10:48:51 +0000 http://blog.gridjit.com/?p=12#comment-20 Hi Rob, I didn't feel at all like you had a problem with Gridjit - on the contrary, I appreciate the mention. I also don't vehemently disagree with your argument - I just happened to take a different route with Gridjit for the reasons above. :-) Thanks again for the mention and for taking the time to comment here. Best, Ray Hi Rob,

I didn’t feel at all like you had a problem with Gridjit - on the contrary, I appreciate the mention.

I also don’t vehemently disagree with your argument - I just happened to take a different route with Gridjit for the reasons above. :-)

Thanks again for the mention and for taking the time to comment here.

Best,

Ray

]]> By: Rob Diana http://blog.gridjit.com/2008/07/13/why-do-alpha-or-beta-software/#comment-19 Rob Diana Mon, 14 Jul 2008 10:34:43 +0000 http://blog.gridjit.com/?p=12#comment-19 I have nothing against Gridjit, and I have not had a chance to use it yet either. I hope the post at mashable did not sound like I had a problem with it. I am OK with the private beta, because that is a good idea for a product. You get early feedback which is fantastic. What I was alluding to in the post, and obviously did not make clear, was that unless you are "invite only", let's just drop the tags. If you released a service on a website, congratulations, it is live. I think the early adopter crowd will understand if the start is a little shaky. I am trying to avoid the slippery slope of "early access" tags we are bound to see. The Twitter API issue is a harder problem, and I am glad you found a way to release without it. Hopefully, they will return all of their services to normal, and the flood of Twitter based apps will return. Good luck with Gridjit! I have nothing against Gridjit, and I have not had a chance to use it yet either. I hope the post at mashable did not sound like I had a problem with it. I am OK with the private beta, because that is a good idea for a product. You get early feedback which is fantastic. What I was alluding to in the post, and obviously did not make clear, was that unless you are “invite only”, let’s just drop the tags. If you released a service on a website, congratulations, it is live. I think the early adopter crowd will understand if the start is a little shaky. I am trying to avoid the slippery slope of “early access” tags we are bound to see.

The Twitter API issue is a harder problem, and I am glad you found a way to release without it. Hopefully, they will return all of their services to normal, and the flood of Twitter based apps will return.

Good luck with Gridjit!

]]> By: Andrew http://blog.gridjit.com/2008/07/13/why-do-alpha-or-beta-software/#comment-18 Andrew Mon, 14 Jul 2008 03:37:14 +0000 http://blog.gridjit.com/?p=12#comment-18 Good post. I think the idea of a "minimum valid test" is really what you should be aiming for. The alpha should be for usability and to see whether that question can accurately be tested and generally should be held private so that when you're really ready to test, your site doesn't get in the way of the test. The beta, then, it seems is the way that folks describe the initial launch to the public. I guess you can get tens of thousands of users when you announce, "hey we're out of beta! although you could have used our service before...." Good post.

I think the idea of a “minimum valid test” is really what you should be aiming for.

The alpha should be for usability and to see whether that question can accurately be tested and generally should be held private so that when you’re really ready to test, your site doesn’t get in the way of the test.

The beta, then, it seems is the way that folks describe the initial launch to the public.

I guess you can get tens of thousands of users when you announce, “hey we’re out of beta! although you could have used our service before….”

]]> By: ambient » Why release Alpha (or Beta) software? http://blog.gridjit.com/2008/07/13/why-do-alpha-or-beta-software/#comment-17 ambient » Why release Alpha (or Beta) software? Mon, 14 Jul 2008 02:07:13 +0000 http://blog.gridjit.com/?p=12#comment-17 [...] Some thoughts I put down over at the Gridjit Blog. [...] [...] Some thoughts I put down over at the Gridjit Blog. [...]

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