Public Betas

Monday, December 4, 2006

I've been reading a lot lately on other blogs about why it's a bad idea to publicly release a beta version of your Mac shareware application. Most of the comments refer to the recent Disco release. You can pay for a Disco license now, but the program is still in beta.

Generally the bloggers are saying that releasing a public beta is bad for users. I agree with that to some extent. Especially when the users have to pay for the software while to get the full functionality while it's still in beta. But I'd like to point out that releasing a public beta can be very risky for shareware developers.

If a small shareware developer is lucky, they can get their first press release published on a major Mac news site, such as MacInTouch or MacMinute. But it's nearly impossible to get press releases for minor updates posted on these news sites. Instead, I think the best free exposure a small shareware developer can expect is from frequent updates posted to MacUpdate and VersionTracker. Each update brings new eyes to your web site.

But these sites are more than just product listings. They're also review sites. Anyone can post a review of a software product listed on these sites, and the product is given an overall rating of one to five stars. Potential customers will use these ratings to determine which products are worth downloading and trying.

If the best free press we can get is going to lead potential buyers to our listings on these sites, then our products' user ratings on the sites are extremely important. Releasing a public beta of your software might seem important to get some buzz, but, whether you want it or not, it will also get you posted on these review sites.

As an example, take a look at Disco's current ratings. On MacUpdate, Disco has a score of 2.5 stars out of a possible five. On VersionTracker, it has only 2.3 out of five stars. These aren't good numbers. The reviews are based on an incomplete, and probably buggy, version of the software. However, these reviews will not going away when the official 1.0 version is released. So, right out of the gate, Disco will have a bad user rating on the primary Mac software review sites.

Disco isn't the first software product to have this problem, it's just currently the most obvious example. But I've seen it happen many times before. However, it is possible to release a beta that users will rate highly. Both Boot Camp from Apple and Lightroom from Adobe are still in beta, and they're getting good ratings on the review sites.

By the way, you don't get to choose whether your software gets listed on MacUpdate or VersionTracker. Somebody will find it and post it there for you, and it's my understanding that they won't take it down if you ask, even if the product is only a beta release.

So, until you're sure that users will love your public beta as much as they'd love a 1.0 release, keep your beta release private.

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