Beta testing is the last stage in development testing of a software application before it is ready for final release. Beta testing usually takes place on the almost final version of the software and is used by the developers to find bugs that everyday users may encounter that they had not accounted for. Many development companies will put out an open call to their existing user base or people who have shown interest in the product to be beta testers for them.
Public beta testing has become very popular in the video game industry lately. Developers are able to leverage it in several ways. Not only do they get real users helping to find bugs and break their games, but they also use it as a way to generate buzz and even funding for their games. A lot of developers are selling early access to their games, sometimes at a discounted price, to be involved in the beta testing of the game.
Beta testing is extremely important, especially for applications that use the internet for connection or syncing. Sometimes, even the most well designed programs can crash and burn under the weight of a large amount of users at one time. That kind of unforeseen load can cause things to come to a screeching halt pretty quickly. Beta testing allows the developers to gradually increase the amount of users they have active at one time to get an understanding of how well their server software can handle large amounts of data requests.
References:
What is Beta-Testing. http://www.kaspersky.com/downloads/beta_testing
I covered pretty much the same idea when it comes to beta testing. It is an interesting trend to see how Video game industry is moving towards beta platform releases to the public as a way not to just test there games but as a way to earn early profits. The idea that they can now make money off a situation that they used to pay people to do. I would be interested to see how you think this has or has not affected the quality of a games production.
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