THE DREAM IN ACTION

During a SOHObiztube board meeting today the discussion got me thinking about the idea of a ‘beta’ release. Then I started thinking about Gmail‘s perpetual beta phase and why they might keep Gmail in beta for 4+ years but want to get Chrome out of beta after only a few months. Without sharing to many details of the SOHObiztube board meeting I wanted to share some thoughts & experiences with beta testing.

First, if a product is going to be sold, it will be tough to sell in beta. So, startups should not always take the lead from Google and keep products in beta. It will affect your sales. People understand especially when buying software as a service products that it is an iterative process and the product will (and should) continue to improve even after the initial purchase.

Second, if a product will not be sold, people’s expectation of performance is significantly lower. If Tweetdeck fails me for a night or even for good, what can I do? Nothing. I’ve paid $0 for Tweetdeck and should expect exactly that in return. However, if Basecamp goes down for longer than a few hours it could affect my project timelines (this could be serious) and I have a right to be upset. The difference… I pay for Basecamp, I don’t pay for Tweetdeck.

Third, Gmail is free and needs to stay in beta because people probably count on their Gmail served email just as much as they may rely on almost any other product. I received the above error message this evening and that is exactly why Gmail is still in beta. Without Google charging us for our email, keeping the product in beta is an insurance policy for them.

No $$$, no guarantees.

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