nine... nine'n'a haaaaaalf... nine'n'three quaaaaarters...
Like a child refusing to count to ten, Flickr has found yet another way to stall the idea of acting like they have released a product. We've had alpha and beta, now Flickr has gone into gamma: FlickrBlog | Alpha... Beta... Gamma! I can't help but wonder if we're going to go through every step to omega before they try 1.0.
Seriously - I don't understand what the harm would be in just drawing a line in the code and calling it v1.0. They have thousands of users and presumably millions of photos. The system works. They provide support. They take money.
Web 2.0 chic ran out somewhere during beta. C'mon Flickr, go 1.0!
Labels: flickr, permanent beta, version numbers, web 2.0, web 2.0mfg
My personal take on it is that by keeping a product pre-1.0 gives the developers the freedom to add and remove features more or less at will without having to worry too much about version numbers.
And once a piece of software hits 1.0, it's like "here it is, this is it and you're not getting much more until 2.0."
Having something in a more-or-less permanent development cycle opens the way for a quicker time to market for new functionality.
At the end of the day, it's about the functionality of the product, not its version number.
Hehe...
Dear Web2.0MFG morons,
We, your users, have no need for publicised version numbers in web apps (ie: having beta or similar in the logo).
It's a WEB app for f**ks sake! I don't need to know the version number every time I use it; I don't have to worry about keeping up with security updates etc because it lives on YOUR server and you do that for me. THAT is why I like using your application instead of a localized app. There is one version with globally available data.
In short, if you want to be like OS applications and put the version number under About info, that's fine. Hell, link the version number to the relevant changelog and I'll feel like you're being all open and informative. Happy happy joy joy.
In the meantime, tell your marketing department to get the Greek alphabet out of their damn toolkit.
sincerely,
A victim of your Beta syndrome.
@cam - I think people are too hung up on the idea that releasing 1.0 means "no more innovation!", which should not be the case. Or to look at it another way, if there are that many improvements coming through then just release 2.0 sooner!
I'm just suspicious of companies who cling to 'beta' status - it's almost like they're saying 'we're not cut out to play this game for real... this way we can weasel out of fixing stuff, hey it's just beta after all. Sorry, gamma ;)
@andrew - you realise I'm starting to say Web 2.0MFG all the time now...!
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