As a software consumer, I'm totally behind the notion of "funded beta's." For this reason: a funded beta from a legitimate coder(s) has a better chance of reaching its full potential and, perhaps more importantly, it helps to ensure that the application stays on the market.
A very important point, however, hasn't been emphasized to this point (not that I could see, anyway).
All of the pay-for beta's I've run across also offer a free trial of one sort or another. Perhaps it's time-limited, perhaps it's feature-limited, maybe it's use-limited, but the consumer can at least try beta software to determine whether or not it's suitable to their needs.
by Matthew — Jan 05
As a software consumer, I'm totally behind the notion of "funded beta's." For this reason: a funded beta from a legitimate coder(s) has a better chance of reaching its full potential and, perhaps more importantly, it helps to ensure that the application stays on the market.
A very important point, however, hasn't been emphasized to this point (not that I could see, anyway).
All of the pay-for beta's I've run across also offer a free trial of one sort or another. Perhaps it's time-limited, perhaps it's feature-limited, maybe it's use-limited, but the consumer can at least try beta software to determine whether or not it's suitable to their needs.
No one loses.