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PC World’s Paul McNamara contacted Google last week to see if the cloud computing titan would clarify its use of the word “beta”. Sadly from those who read the response, they clearly intend to continue bending the term to their own use. This on the other hand leads to a great community conversation starter. Currently 22 out of 49 non Google Labs services carry the beta tag, including popular and widely used services such as Gmail and Google Docs. Google’s official response to the question is as follows: "We believe beta has a different meaning when applied to applications on the Web, where people expect continual improvements in a product. On the Web, you don't have to wait for the next version to be on the shelf or an update to become available. Improvements are rolled out as they're developed." If I’m interpreting my corporate double speak correctly, it seems clear that Google intends to continue using the beta tag to represent constantly evolving products. This makes me wonder, is it fair to use such a widely understood version label and turn it into a marketing term? Now it’s your turn to chime in. Do you like Google’s new definition of the beta tag? Or would you prefer they get off the fence and better distinguish new products from the old.
Links:
[1] http://www.maximumpc.com/user/justinkerr_0
[2] http://www.pcworld.com/article/151659/
[3] http://www.maximumpc.com/article/news/3_billion_people_need_internet_access_google_rescue
[4] http://www.maximumpc.com/article/news/adobe_working_with_google_yahoo_make_flash_content_more_searchable
[5] http://www.maximumpc.com/article/news/get_your_google_android_phone_200_from_tmobile
[6] http://www.maximumpc.com/tags/beta
[7] http://www.maximumpc.com/tags/google
[8] http://www.maximumpc.com/tags/search
[9] http://www.maximumpc.com/tags/software
[10] http://www.maximumpc.com/tags/software_news
[11] http://www.maximumpc.com/articles/news
[12] http://www.maximumpc.com/user/login?&commentfragment=comments_top_anchor