Posterous is Not in beta

#1

Post by dcurtis » Mon, Sep 15, 2008, 7:01 AM UTC

Posterous is Not in beta
sachin.posterous.com

Re: Posterous is Not in beta

#2

Post by jacobscott » Mon, Sep 15, 2008, 7:10 AM UTC

I think it is stand-up that Posterous doesn't hide behind "Beta" when something goes wrong. At the same time, the service is not as mature or robust as, say, WordPress. This makes a lot of sense since Posterous is a very recent startup.

Maybe they're in gamma? Maybe, like Hadoop, they're version 0.X? I'm sure rantfoil can enlighten us.

Re: Posterous is Not in beta

#3

Post by tdavis » Mon, Sep 15, 2008, 7:17 AM UTC

TicketStumbler was in private beta for a month or so, but we never did get around to putting the fancy tag on our logo...

I don't think Posterous is in Beta or Gamma or Epsilon or any other nonsense. It's just... Posterous!

Re: Posterous is Not in beta

#4

Post by cellis » Mon, Sep 15, 2008, 7:32 AM UTC

I'm in Lambda.

Re: Posterous is Not in beta

#5

Post by JMiao » Mon, Sep 15, 2008, 8:00 AM UTC

i once felt the same way. it's important to note that "beta" isn't just limited to code, especially if you're building something technically solid yet "experimental" in design (i.e. involving complex algorithms or even game mechanics).

Re: Posterous is Not in beta

#6

Post by Tichy » Mon, Sep 15, 2008, 8:20 AM UTC

That seems a bit silly. What is wrong with testing an application that is not yet 100% finished?

Re: Posterous is Not in beta

#7

Post by rantfoil » Mon, Sep 15, 2008, 8:33 AM UTC

jacobscott wrote: post #2

I think it is stand-up that Posterous doesn't hide behind "Beta" when something goes wrong. At the same time, the service is not as mature or robust as, say, WordPress. This makes a lot of sense since Posterous is a very recent startup. Maybe they're in gamma? Maybe, like Hadoop, they're version 0.X? I'm sure rantfoil can enlighten us.

Haha, well, we make no excuses. Robustness and maturity are things that come with time and a whole lot of elbow grease. (Which we are applying liberally to the area.) ;-)

Re: Posterous is Not in beta

#8

Post by rantfoil » Mon, Sep 15, 2008, 8:34 AM UTC

Tichy wrote: post #6

That seems a bit silly. What is wrong with testing an application that is not yet 100% finished?

What's wrong is being in a perpetual state of beta. If you release software into the world, take full responsibility for it. Saying you're in beta is like blaming your parents for bad parenting when you're 30 and living at home.

Re: Posterous is Not in beta

#9

Post by axod » Mon, Sep 15, 2008, 8:51 AM UTC

Beta is a good marketing device. It makes people think they are getting something "Hot off the press".

I don't use it myself, but I can see why some others might.

It's just another meaningless buzzword at the end of the day.

Re: Posterous is Not in beta

#10

Post by axod » Mon, Sep 15, 2008, 8:53 AM UTC

rantfoil wrote: post #8

Tichy wrote: post #6

That seems a bit silly. What is wrong with testing an application that is not yet 100% finished?

What's wrong is being in a perpetual state of beta. If you release software into the world, take full responsibility for it. Saying you're in beta is like blaming your parents for bad parenting when you're 30 and living at home.

People like being first to get something. They like having an invite. They like getting a backstage pass. They like being specially selected to try some Beta software.

It's not all about being able to blame bugs, it's also a good marketing strategy to make users feel privileged or important.