Toshio Kuratomi wrote:
One thing I think is unclear this cycle is the usage of the word
"Beta".
It's been said many times that beta is not really beta but actually
final freeze. For instance: "If all goes as planned the Beta
(previously known as "Final Development") Freeze" in the message steved
linked to. And yet, no one actually expects that beta is the final
development freeze. Maybe we should just give up and not use the beta
moniker for it. As inaccurate as it is, "release candidate" is a
*better inaccuracy* in terms of communicating to developers. Developers
understand that by "release candidate" we're going to be very tough
about getting changes in, even if they appear to improve the experience.
Some things will just have to be deferred after a release candidate is
out the door.
The downside of "release candidate", as Jesse has pointed out before, is
that it communicates the wrong thing to end-users. There's zero chance
that this cut is going to be the absolute final set of bits that we use
on release day so from an end-user perspective, it's not a release
candidate.
Why not just call it "Preview" again? Everyone here understands what that
means.
Kevin Kofler