Moving on

What is perpetual beta?

I think the paradigm of working towards a release of software called alpha creates situations where someone is forced into what has been coined perpetual beta. People often refer to the google applications as perpetual beta. But really this is not the case.

Though it might be a very minute line, there is definitely a difference between continuous development with no clear picture in mind, and making small steps towards an ideal product, which though perhaps is unattainable, is striven for in small steps. Google is not bug free, but each release is complete. It testing is its existence.

You can contrast that to a product which has the title "Release Version" but is never quite complete. It may be bug ridden, or just "under-featured". Its purpose for life is unclear and the care of the product is left to those who have little emotional concern. The consumers of the product are unclear what it does which makes it difficult for them to communicate what they need the product to do.

People often need to be led or told what they need. This might sound strange, but when you think of general trends, people buy products, they don't invent them. Faced with a particular problem, especially an everyday one, it is easier to implement than to invent.

How do we begin?