I'm sure you already know this, but for the benefit of those who've never been involved in one, just because ThermoCore Tim named you as a beta tester doesn't mean they'll let you comment on your experience. If they do, I'll be impressed. That would indeed reflect a high level of confidence in their product.
I'm still bound by certain non-disclosure agreements. Some of them never expire, although it's doubtful anyone cares any more. None of them involve Thermovape.
Exactly right, Brother Pak, this is a new one on me. Beta Testers are usually closet types. Undercover. G did a similar, but very different, thing the other day when he had Sinclue and I test the 8 prototype and told the world ahead of time. It had some very public problems, since G had set it up for public reports, from which it has thus far not recovered. I guess that leant him!
We (Tim, Noah and I) discussed this several months back when they asked me if I would test the new product. Normally it's like Pak says, sometimes you're allowed to say in broad terms what you did (like when I've discussed LV Evolution and LV Revolution testing) sometimes you're not allowed to speak of it at all. Like Pak there are questions in my past I can't answer.....some of them in projects that never happened.
Several for companies that no longer exist....I wonder if they count? Pretty boring and obsolete stuff anyway. Not really James Bond stuff.
This one is very different, one I've never done this before. Since they elected to declare it, the exceptional agreement is full disclosure on this (of things I find). Folks are sure to press me (both publicly and privately) for details. Very cool, IMO. They are very confident it seems. Understand I still know none of the details past what we've been shown.
But isn't the point, besides from us not knowing he is beta, for him to review and tell the forum what he thinks? So now when he tells us we will know he is also ONE of the testers. I think most of us assumed it anyhow.
I suspect that's exactly what they are thinking. They're looking for me to put useful information in user's hands as early as possible to aid their decision to buy. Gets the word out quicker, but has risks if that turns out to be bad news.
As far as assumptions go, I have it on very good authority I'm secretly in the pay of TV so it's entirely reasonable to assume most anything I guess.....except that I can be trusted if that's really the case (which it's still not....).
No, beta testers aren't usually reviewers. A beta tester might write a review later (one would hope with disclosure of that fact) but would (or should at least) report using a different set of criteria.
Beta is the last round of testing before the product goes out the door. A good beta tester is looking for bugs and has a rigorous method for documenting what the bug is and how to reproduce it. One of the fun things about beta testing is trying to find ways to use the product that the developers didn't anticipate. Sometimes this is not hard, unfortunately. Developers often react to bug reports of this nature with irritation and admonishments that you're not supposed to use it like that.
Once again, the man with the island tan is spot on. Usually it's secret. And usually Beta Testers are true nerds in my experience (can you see me playing that role?), not the sort of spokesperson you'd want, really. This is an entirely new deal for me. When it happens, that is.
Beta Tests are exactly as Pak says in my experience. It's that 'reality test' that so many foolishly skip. Our jobs (the others and myself) will be to 'think outside the box' when it comes to what the least logical user might do. Bench and Prototype testing are supposed to find the traditional problelms, we're testing the GUI if you will. Can a customer set the knobs such that it will crash? What does happen when you put the battery in backwards? That kind of test. Find the serious user problems when they can still be fixed or avoided.
By way of example, I once worked for a company that amongst other things made computer tracking alarms for merchant ships that attaches to the radar and keeps track of the other ships and their courses and speeds to avoid crashes (which always seem to happen under ideal conditions, not raging storms when everyone is paying attention....). Not the kind of service call that easy to do, you have to go meet the ship, they can't mail it in for software upgrades. We had lots of upgrades. Lots. Each got tested in Engineering (of course), then again in Production Test. Both times on live gear. Then usually it got a ride or two on the company boat on the bay before being sent out to a select set of customers who had regular schedules (like the Asia or oil trades), car carriers full of Japanese cars are great for this, they come back every month or so on their own....
So, we cheated once. The suits decided to skip the sea trials on a 'trivial software change' and gave it the once over and released it. For cultural reasons Yankee ship's Officers run radars 'head up' (with the bright line representing straight ahead pointing straight up) and the view on the screen like the view out the windows. Europeans run 'North up' where the head line rotates with the ship's compass so it points to 3 o'clock when going East and everything on the screen looks like the charts, not the windows. Different view of the world. A tracker needs to know when the ship turns since all the other ships don't and therefore spin around you on the screen.
Can you feel it coming? Yup, Yanks had no problems, European ones lost targets in turns. The 'trivial change' took bearing data from the wrong bus when in North up.....ooops. We had half a dozen ships sailing the seven seas for several of our best customers before the first report came back. Some of them 'tramps' (no fixed schedule). A couple of us got the duty to fly to some third rate port, find and board the ship, swap the ROMs and ride to the next port demonstrating the corrected software. They weren't about to let you off until you've proven there's no problems, and who could blame them? Ever try living on say a Chinese ship for a couple of weeks or a month as the only outsider? As you plod along at 14 or 15 knotts to the next nowhere port you never wanted to see. Fun to look back on, but not an experience I'd recommend. In those days such ships carried Radio Operators as one of the 30 or so crew, so at least one guy spoke English so you're not completely alone. Although your diet gets a bit strange and you end up living in six four hour watches a day. Some ships are dry (American flag for instance), none had vaping lounges. Trust me, I fully appreciate how important Beta Testing is. I've lived the downside. Which is why I guess traditional companies want to keep the details from the completion?
Sorry to ramble but it was a fun memory and sorta topical? Thanks for reading.
OF
Thanks for all the testers to help us backwards ass people.
