Hi Todd, It's of course your choice and everybody's choice if they participate in public betas or apply to participate in private betas. I do strongly believe, however, that beta releases in general are a great opportunity not only to report bugs, but also to provide feedback on new features a developer has added or is looking to improve even if said features work just fine without bugs. Sonos is a good example. For those who don't know Sonos, they make a number of wireless music players you can deploy around your home to bring music (or other audio) to various rooms. The equipment is controlled with the Sonos app and Sonos has a very active private beta community and they release new versions of the app which include new features which need to be tested and many Sonos enthusiasts love doing this and giving them feedback on how well things work or what needs to be improved and also what other features should be added later. There are a lot of very capable people out there who as a group can greatly help developers because especially when it comes to Android devices, no developer can have all the devices that exist in order to test their app on said devices under certain conditions. Everybody else does benefit from the final release even if the final release still contains bugs and you may think betas are useless and a waste of time. Of course it is not for everybody to beta test and that's perfectly OK, but I have personally approached developers where I wanted to use and app and found it lacked accessibility and in many cases the developers were very willing to make improvements which I then beta tested and provided feedback.When the app was later released with much better accessibility it of course benefited me, but it also benefited all others who then enjoyed the app which I helped to make accessible and there are many on this list who have done the same with apps they found interesting and useful. The Netatmo Weather Station is one example, it was basically useless until I contacted the developer after I bought a weather station and found I could not use it. It could still use some improvements and after the initial work they did the developer has been less enthusiastic to continue, but it is very useable as it is now and many others on this list have bought a Netatmo Weather Station and are enjoying the fact they can have access to indoor and outdoor temperature, indoor CO2 levels and rainfall amounts and wind speed. Sonos again is another example, accessibility was sorely lacking and here several others as well as myself relentlessly went after Sonos and bugged them until they realized that the Sonos system was of great interest to the blind and in around 2011 or 2012 there was a turning point when the company made acccessibility a priority and ever since each release has been accessible and even some features which initially were not accessible like TruePlay tuning eventually were made accessible. OK, enough said, hopefully I was able to explain that beta testing, both private and public, is of value and that everybody benefit from the many hours beta testers spend testing and reporting issues and providing feedback on new features. Beyond that everybody is entitled to their opinion and what I wrote above explains mine.
Regards, Sieghard -----Original Message----- From: viphone@googlegroups.com [mailto:viphone@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Todd Patkus Sent: Monday, November 7, 2016 9:50 PM To: viphone@googlegroups.com Subject: RE: Quick Question for Apple iOS Beta Testers Chris et al, I have absolutely no interest or absolutely no need for these stuff. Apple is not the only one. Freedom Scientific is one of them. They like to release public Beta annually, but I do not care about them. These stuff--Apple's Beta and FS' Beta--are simply nothing but simply a big waste! Beta does not do any good. Look at bugs still appearing in newer versions. They do not do enough to first check their versions more thoroughly first to ensure the software work correctly before releasing them. Instead, they just enhance new features and then, without adequate investigation, send out new versions filled with more unwanted bugs to make customers complain! That is it. Todd -----Original Message----- From: viphone@googlegroups.com [mailto:viphone@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Christopher Chaltain Sent: Monday, November 07, 2016 10:48 PM To: viphone@googlegroups.com Subject: Re: Quick Question for Apple iOS Beta Testers Interestingly enough, here's what Apple says at https://beta.apple.com/sp/betaprogram/legal Please keep in mind that you should not install beta software on production or business-critical systems. We strongly recommend installing beta software on a secondary system or device, or on a secondary partition on your Mac. On 07/11/16 18:15, Merv Keck wrote: > Hi, > > I chose to beta test on a secondary device. I have an iPad Mini 4 > which I beta test with but not my iPhone or my watch or Apple TV for > that matter. Just in case something comes up with the beta that causes > voiceover to do something unexpected I can’t get caught without my > phone. I do not have a land line. > > > > *From:*viphone@googlegroups.com [mailto:viphone@googlegroups.com] *On > Behalf Of *Robin Frost > *Sent:* Monday, November 7, 2016 7:12 PM > *To:* viphone@googlegroups.com > *Subject:* Quick Question for Apple iOS Beta Testers > > > > Hi, > > No worries I’m not asking anything that’d cause anyone to violate a > non-disclosure agreement at all. I’m merely wondering for those who > participate in Apple’s beta testing of iOS how many do so on their > main iDevice versus doing so on a secondary device. Right now I’ve > obtained a secondary device for beta testing purposes but still weigh > sending it back and merely testing on my main device. thus I was > curious what others chose and why. > > See nothing harmful or controversial there. Thanks for indulging my > curiosity. > > Robin > > > > -- > The following information is important for all members of the V iPhone list. > > If you have any questions or concerns about the running of this list, > or if you feel that a member's post is inappropriate, please contact > the owners or moderators directly rather than posting on the list itself. > > Your V iPhone list moderator is Mark Taylor and your owner is Cara > Quinn > - you can reach Cara at caraqu...@caraquinn.com > <mailto:caraqu...@caraquinn.com> > > The archives for this list can be searched at: > http://www.mail-archive.com/viphone@googlegroups.com/ > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google > Groups "VIPhone" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send > an email to viphone+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com > <mailto:viphone+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com>. > To post to this group, send email to viphone@googlegroups.com > <mailto:viphone@googlegroups.com>. > Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/viphone. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > > -- > The following information is important for all members of the V iPhone list. > > If you have any questions or concerns about the running of this list, > or if you feel that a member's post is inappropriate, please contact > the owners or moderators directly rather than posting on the list itself. > > Your V iPhone list moderator is Mark Taylor and your owner is Cara > Quinn > - you can reach Cara at caraqu...@caraquinn.com > > The archives for this list can be searched at: > http://www.mail-archive.com/viphone@googlegroups.com/ > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google > Groups "VIPhone" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send > an email to viphone+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com > <mailto:viphone+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com>. > To post to this group, send email to viphone@googlegroups.com > <mailto:viphone@googlegroups.com>. > Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/viphone. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. -- Christopher (CJ) chaltain at Gmail -- The following information is important for all members of the V iPhone list. 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If you have any questions or concerns about the running of this list, or if you feel that a member's post is inappropriate, please contact the owners or moderators directly rather than posting on the list itself. Your V iPhone list moderator is Mark Taylor and your owner is Cara Quinn - you can reach Cara at caraqu...@caraquinn.com The archives for this list can be searched at: http://www.mail-archive.com/viphone@googlegroups.com/ --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "VIPhone" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to viphone+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to viphone@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/viphone. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. -- The following information is important for all members of the V iPhone list. 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