Welcome to 2006! We're completely back to work now (funny how the holidays tend to be so busy with other stuff) and trying hard to meet our release schedule. Speaking of release schedules, we had some discussion lately about whether or not to release a beta version of Podcast Spot. Our previous releases haven't really been betas, they have been "previews" or "prototypes", but it's easier to call them betas. We haven't completely decided yet, but we're leaning towards going straight for primetime, for a number of reasons. Timely then, that I came across some discussion about the word "beta". From Michael Arrington:

Every company does things a little differently. Some rush the product out, features-be-damned. Others wait, and wait, and wait, until its “perfect”. Some companies are secretive. Others open. And so on.

I’ve seen hundreds of new products launch over the last six months, and I think I have some pretty good advice for companies that want to improve their beta release.

Michael goes on to list advice in a number of different categories, like "first impressions" and "landing pages". His advice is pretty good - I'm glad I found his post.

Stephen Bryant also talked about betas recently:

The vicissitudes of the public beta have been thoroughly discussed on the Web this year by Webloggers, columnists and reporters alike. I think 37Signals' Jason Fried put it best in when he e-mailed me to say: "Release your damn product, take responsibility for it and constantly improve it. The 'Public Beta' flag is a cover-your-ass mechanism that needs to go."

I couldn't agree more. So before we ring in the new year, I'd just like to say: In 2006, first thing we do, let's kill all the betas.

All of a sudden, the decision is becoming easier :) That said, I think a beta is still useful for a software application for Windows (or any other operating system), because they are much more difficult to properly test than web based applications.

Combined with the fact that we plan to have a free account for Podcast Spot that you can use to evaluate the service, I think we'll probably go straight to release. Applications like Podcast Wizard will likely still have a beta period however.

More soon!