Carey,
You may be reacting to the rules of the closed beta which don't apply to
the open beta now underway. To sign up for the Open Beta, the
requirements quoted from the communication are:
* Have an active BMC Support ID.
* Complete the pre-release software agreement.
* Fax (408)716 2771 or email your signed beta agreement to
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
* Complete a qualification survey.
The qualification survey is primarily to ensure that you have an
environment supported by the beta so that you, as a customer, don't
become frustrated by participating in a beta program that would not
function in your environment. To the best of my knowledge, no one has
been "turned away" from the open beta as long as the above tasks were
completed. The pre-release software agreement is a standard NDA that is
required for legal reasons.
For the closed beta, there was a requirement to be nominated by a BMC
sales person. This was to limit the number of participants to a
manageable level during that initial period. You don't have to go
through your BMC sales person for the open beta.
Has anyone had specific issues getting into the open beta - i.e. have
you applied and been turned away?
-David J. Easter
Sr. Product Manager, Solution Strategy and Development
BMC Software, Inc.
The opinions, statements, and/or suggested courses of action expressed
in this E-mail do not necessarily reflect those of BMC Software, Inc.
My voluntary participation in this forum is not intended to convey a
role as a spokesperson, liaison or public relations representative for
BMC Software, Inc.
-----Original Message-----
From: Action Request System discussion list(ARSList)
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Carey Matthew Black
Sent: Friday, October 10, 2008 4:58 AM
To: arslist@ARSLIST.ORG
Subject: Re: AR System 7.5 (an open beta by any other name...)
Alan,
Maybe it is just me... but....
"Open beta" should not require me to get "approved" by the vendor. I
should be able to go to their web site (like here:
http://www.bmc.com/beta_program/public/available_betas.cfm) and get the
software.
Oh look... it is not just me....
Ref: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beta_test#Beta
"
Developers release either a closed beta or an open beta; closed beta
versions are released to a select group of individuals for a user test,
while open betas are to a larger community group, usually the general
public. The testers report any bugs that they found and sometimes minor
features they would like to see in the final version.
"
But the article does go on to say this too...
"
When a beta becomes available to the general public it is often widely
used by the technologically savvy and those familiar with previous
versions as though it were the finished product. Usually developers of
freeware or open-source betas release them to the general public while
proprietary betas go to a relatively small group of testers.
Recipients of highly proprietary betas may have to sign a non-disclosure
agreement. A release is called feature complete when the product team
agrees that functional requirements of the system are met and no new
features will be put into the release, but significant software bugs may
still exist. Companies with a formal software process will tend to enter
the beta period with a list of known bugs that must be fixed to exit the
beta period, and some companies make this list available to customers
and testers.
"
So I guess what BMC means by "Open beta" must be more along the lines of
the "proprietary beta" process. Which really sounds like a "closed beta"
to me. (AKA: "released to a select group of individuals for a user
test") Maybe they will someday make the switch to an open beta and use
their entire customer/partner base. Maybe they could do that in the form
of a "Patch" site download? That should keep the faint of heart and the
"non-paying customers" out of the beta.
Shrug. I asked my sales rep to be included in the beta... then he left
the company. So I guess my request to be in the Alpha/beta likely left
with him. I is simply "to hard" to know when and how to request access
to a closed beta.
FWIW: In a very general way, I have these thoughts on "Beta testing
programs" from any software manufacturer:
I think the "benefits" of the closed beta programs are so limited to
almost be "self fulling prophesy" for the company. If you only ask your
customers that only use your OOB applications and they only test your
OOB applications, then the company has a good shot at being able to do
that same testing in Alpha and knowing the results before the beta
starts. But that also means that you learned almost nothing by expending
all of those resource outsourcing (to the customer) the testing that you
have already done internally.
However, if all of the existing customers were to test what they do with
the product, then the company is likely to not have tested all of the
strange and special ways that those crazy customers out there end up
making the product fit that square hole problem. And trust me the crazy
customers want/need to test the next version because they know that they
are pushing the envelope of the product and are on the
(often) bleeding edge of the tech. So those testers are more likely to
participate than the "just OOB" customers anyway.
However those crazy customers will likely result in more known
issues/bugs and a decrease in customer confidence due to the well known
broken state of the next version. That hurts sales of the new version
and thus hurts the company. So the company decides to keep the beta
testers more "exclusive" to avoid the pain points and to try to keep the
customers "happy with the non-existent experience" instead of "satisfied
with the quality of the product that they used in the testing program".
But maybe it is just me..... Maybe some day when I am running my own
software company.... :)
--
Carey Matthew Black
Remedy Skilled Professional (RSP)
ARS = Action Request System(Remedy)
Love, then teach
Solution = People + Process + Tools
Fast, Accurate, Cheap.... Pick two.
On Thu, Oct 9, 2008 at 3:09 PM, Alan Blake <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> **
>
> The open BETA started beginning of Sept. You can send an inquiry here
> [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
> Alan
<snip>
> ----- Original Message ----
> From: Alan Blake <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> To: arslist@ARSLIST.ORG
> Sent: Thursday, October 9, 2008 12:26:58 PM
> Subject: Re: AR System 7.5
>
> **
>
> The BETA test is still underway. I understood they are targeting
> early next year.
>
> Alan
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