Microsoft has officially announced the date whenWindows 8 Beta will become available for the general public: February 29th. The Redmond-based company will hold a special event that requires an invitation at the Mobile World Congress 2012 in Barcelona. The only problem is that the company chose to remove the Beta label from its products. and it’s calling it a Consumer Preview therefore we will actually have to say that the Windows 8 Consumer Preview release date is February 29th.
Everybody might be wondering why did Microsoft decide to exchange the beta tagline with another one called consumer preview. Well, we’re going to have to blame Google, Apple, and ultimately, Microsoft itself. “Beta” is no longer perceived like it used to be although it has worked successfully for several years, and that’s mostly because of companies like Google and Apple.
Not too long ago, a beta version was required to be released by companies to tech experts and to other people working in IT. The companies making a software wanted the testers to submit bug reports, give it a proper testing, and to give suggestions that would allow a developer to improve the product in question.
Microsoft released a lot of Windows XP beta versions as well as a couple of the so-called release candidates. Then Vista came, and the Redmond firm invited folks to experience the “pleasure of testing” because beta testing is pretty fun. However, the software giant admitted that there will be a lot of crashes, and it was proven that “consumers” didn’t respond well to that.
When Windows 7 beta was released, the build was pretty decent, however, Microsoft failed to make a buzz out of this, and decide to focus on creating a great marketing campaign for the final release, fact which made Windows 7 the best-selling operating system ever. Oh, the “crashing” and “buggy” Vista helped here, too, because PC customers wanted to use Windows as their main OS, and Vista wasn’t good enough, while XP was old as hell.
Anyway Microsoft no longer wants to concede that beta is an unfinished product, and that it may affect your user experience. Now, it wants you to install it for free, user it, like it, share it with your friends, and it wants to show that you don’t have to be an expert to use it, but at the same time, you kinda don’t have the right to complain about it.
That’s where you can put the blame on Google. When Gmail was launched in 2004, it was launched as a beta because the search giant felt that it’s necessary to keep it this way until they’re going to “make it” full of features. Well, Gmail remained in the beta stage until 2009. Those are 5 very long years! Why would a product remain in beta for so long? Well, apparently because engineers wanted to add more features.
So what’s a “beta”? According to Google co-founder Larry Page, “it’s kind of an arbitrary thing.” This statement requires no further explanation, and it has a direct effect on Microsoft because the Redmond company doesn’t want to look like it’s doing things in a random manner, or that it’s leaving it all to chance. No, Microsoft wants to look good to its customers, and it wants to show that everything is under control.
Consumers should give credit to Microsoft for trying to perform such a task. We, the consumers, leave our files into the hands of the company’s developers, and we want them to be safe along with our personal information.
The company was forced to do that because, like said, “beta” is no longer what it used to be. Now we’re getting to the part where we blame Apple. When the iPhone 4S was released, it featured Siri, the personal assistant that “knew” everything. This technology was launched with a beta label attached to it.
Apple’s Siri fails often, and it’s getting worse by the day because more and more suggestions are beingadded into its system therefore its algorithm is more prone to giving inaccurate answers. Apple knew that such thing will happen therefore it said that Siri is in beta, and that users should expect it not to work properly.
However, the problem is that the Cupertino-based company doesn’t make public beta tests so why a change in policy right now? Because the iPhone 4S needed a key ingredient in order to beat its rivals: Samsung and HTC. The former was the biggest smartphone vendor in 2011 with about 97 million units sold, while the latter was known to be the biggest smartphone vendor in the US in the quarter before iPhone 4S’ release. The results were amazing as Apple recorded the best quarter ever selling 37 million iPhones, most of them being 4S.
Getting back to Microsoft’s Windows 8 we have to say that by labeling it a Consumer Preview release, the company suggests that it’s intended for all consumers and that it wasn’t meant just for expert testing. It’s just for fun, and you’re going to have fun using it because you won’t set any high expectations. Microsoft is giving a chance to everyone to play with the fully featured but not ready Windows 8, and it’s hoping that it will be enough for most users to buy it.
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