Test Driving Technology: Why People Beta Test

from the isn't-it-obvious? dept

If you live in the technology world, I guess you can forget that people outside of it don't always know what things like "beta test" mean. So, it's a bit amusing to come across this article in a North Carolina newspaper that explains the basic concept of beta testing and why companies agree to give out their products early and beta testers agree to give up their "labor" to test out these products. The article descrbes it as a "win-win" situation. Companies get widespread tests that run their products through all sorts of situations, while testers get their hands on the latest and greatest products earlier than their friends. Companies are also discovering that beta testing acts as a form of advertising. People tell (or show) their friends about whatever product they're testing - and often end up buying the release version of the product themselves.

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