Jun
23
Wikipedia defines an alpha release as “The alpha build of the software is the build delivered to the software testers, that is persons different from the software engineers, but usually internal to the organization or community that develops the software. In a rush to market, more and more companies are engaging external customers or value-chain partners in their alpha testing phase. This allows more extensive usability testing during the alpha phase.”
Say what you want about Wikipedia and whether or not it will ever make a valid source, but they are dead on here. Alpha is a chance for us as business owners to take the software out of the hands of the development team and have some of the QA department really take a look at the product. In many cases an alpha release is internal to the company - no one else is allowed to see or use it - especially given than an alpha release tends to be buggy and inconsistent.
No, we don’t have a formal QA department. Tristan and I do our best, but we’ve both got about 100 other jobs to do any given day, so we’re soliciting your help. Many of you’ve asked me for an invitation - and many of you haven’t. We want to see as many people using the product as possible and deep down I know you all want to play with it, so yes everyone will get an invitation. At least everyone who won’t go sharing our hard work with the press or our competitors.
It’s late Sunday night and we all still wish we had three more days to work on the product, but we’re sticking to schedule. We’ll deliver invites tomorrow morning and unleash a bevy of friends and supporters on Event Seek. Be kind, but be brutal. Tell us what works, what doesn’t, what needs to be fixed, and what needs to be added. Event Seek is a consumer driven application that is designed to help people discover and attend events - so tell us what we’re doing to support that and what we could be doing better.
Imagine you have an early pass to the development of facebook, MySpace, or Google. Think about how many times you’ve wished a website would do something differently or offer you different functionality - this is your chance. You have a great power, and with great power comes great responsibility - we need you to talk to us. Don’t just keep it to yourself when something doesn’t work right - tell us! Don’t mutter when you wish another feature existed - tell us! Links to the forums can be found in your alpha toolbar - don’t be shy.
This is our alpha launch of Event Seek, but this is your chance to shape a young product and a young company.
Posted by: Connor Fee
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